Robert Jones and the Norfolk State men’s basketball team picked up a 64-58 non-conference road win over Illinois State on Saturday, but social media wasn’t interested in the outcome.
About halfway through the second half, Jones and Illinois State coach Ryan Bedon got into a shouting match at halfcourt and had to be separated by officials.
Well, here’s the video from the scrimmage between Norfolk State and Illinois State.
The broadcast said that “one or two” Illinois State fans made comments of a “racist nature” toward NSU’s Jamari Thomas.
Fans were ejected and both coaches were fouled. pic.twitter.com/3RgCIPqXRJ
– Michael Sauls (@mcsauls) December 10, 2023
Jones told The Pilot on Saturday night that the altercation started when Norfolk State guard Jamari Thomas informed him that Illinois State fans sitting on the court had directed racial slurs at him.
“The fan called Jamari a racial slur,” Jones said. “So when Jamari told me, I walked on the court and I told the referee and I told the fan, ‘You can’t call my players a racial slur. I don’t care about basketball, you can’t talk to them like that. That’s why I went to the court.’
After Jones entered the field, he said that Bidon wanted the officials to give him a technical foul. Jones said he approached Bedon to tell him what happened and that’s when things escalated.
“I went up to him and told him the fan called my friend a racial slur, and that’s why I’m on the field,” Jones said. “And (Bedon) was very excited and said, ‘I don’t care.’ I don’t care. I don’t care.’ And that’s when I left because you can’t tell me you don’t care that someone called my kid a racial slur. Like you can’t tell me you don’t care. Forget about basketball, forget anything. He has African-American players on his team. …No You can tell me you don’t care.
The state of Illinois did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.
“I was upset about him falling to the ground and I was making the referees angry. It was never personal about him.” Pedon said during the postgame. “I’ll leave it at that. I’ll take the high road on this.”
Both coaches were yelling at each other face to face, but were eventually separated by officials and members of their own team.
After the chaos calmed down, the broadcast announced that the fans had been expelled from the match. Officials eventually assessed a technical foul to both coaches and resumed play. Jones was keen to praise officials for the way they managed the situation.
“The reason the guy was sent off is because the referee heard what he said,” Jones said. “Credit to the referees, all three of them were very apologetic, even though they obviously had nothing to do with it, but they were all very apologetic about the situation. They cleaned up the situation quickly. … We were able to move on and finish the basketball game.” “Because things could have gotten ugly one way or another. No matter what happened with me and Bidon in the half court, things never escalated to the point where people were fighting. When you say words like that, it can easily lead to fights.”
Once the game was over, Jones said he and Bedon had a brief discussion during the handshake line in which Bedon told him he did not hear Jones say an Illinois State fan called Thomas a racial slur.
“After the game, if you saw the handshake line, (Beddon) said he didn’t hear me say that because he would never have reacted that way,” Jones said. I said to him: What did you think I was telling you if you did not hear me say that? Were you just trying to impress your fans so much that you didn’t listen to me or did you really not care about what I said? This is what we talked about in the handshake line and that’s it.”
Fans took to social media after the game to express their support for Jones and the Spartans.
I will not allow anyone to call my players a racist insult. These are my children and I will fight for them. We’ve come too far in society to be called the “N” word in college basketball. https://t.co/hoyJ9VfSAx
– Robert Jones (@NSUCoachJones) December 10, 2023
Jones said Thomas and his team felt upset at that moment, but the feeling eventually faded as the game continued.
“We were all disappointed,” Jones said. “This is a college basketball game. No matter how someone feels or whatever it is, we shouldn’t have to have those racial slurs in a Division I college basketball game in 2023. I mean, that’s ridiculous.”
Thomas scores 31 points in victory
Thomas scored a career-high 31 points for the Spartans (7-3), in addition to contributing six rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. Alain Betrand added 12 points and Colwell Mading had seven rebounds.
NSU led 9-1 and 15-3 and never relinquished the lead, although the Redbirds (6-4) pulled as close as 27-26 and eventually pulled within 60-58 with 14 seconds remaining. Thomas hit 15 of 17 free throws, including a couple for a 62-58 margin.
Michael Sauls, michael.sauls@virginiamedia.com, (757) 803-5774
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