Arkansas Razorbacks men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman and an assistant of his are under heavy scrutiny after a shocking incident.
The Razorbacks lost to the Texas A&M Aggies in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. The loss put another dent in the Razorbacks’ season, which could be viewed as a disappointment in some regards. However, none of that matters now as anything before was marred by what happened after the game.
Following the loss, Musselman erupted into a profanity-laced tirade, as captured by student journalist Jack Weaver. Weaver, a member of Kentucky Kernal, the independent student newspaper at The University of Kentucky, caught himself in the middle of the incident in which an assistant coach can be seen grabbing the phone from his hand. The assistant coach then threw the phone down, according to Weaver.
Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman left the court in a rage of f-bombs after losing to Texas A&M in the #SECMBB Tournament. His assistant then grabbed my phone and threw it at the ground. @KYKernelSports pic.twitter.com/xRiX7O7dAN
— Jack Weaver (@jack_weaver_) March 11, 2023
Immediately, many took to Weaver’s defense after he posted the incident on his Twitter account.
I would *not* recommend taking a reporter’s phone and throwing it. https://t.co/386TxkjbcY
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) March 11, 2023
This is unacceptable. Arkansas needs to apologize and make it right. https://t.co/yY8KzNf7i3
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) March 11, 2023
Kentucky Kernal issued a stern statement after the incident went viral.
“The Kentucky Kernal is appalled by the actions of the Arkansas men’s basketball program. @jack_wever_ always embodies professionalism on the job and no journalist, especially a student journalist, should be subjected to violence for simply doing their job.”
The Kentucky Kernel is appalled by the actions of the Arkansas mens basketball program. @jack_weaver_ always embodies professionalism on the job and no journalist, especially a student journalist, should be subjected to violence for simply doing their job. https://t.co/JpKTaP9MaK
— Kernel Sports (@KYKernelSports) March 11, 2023
This is a tremendous no-no and not something this assistant will soon forget. And according to Lee Howard of WKYT, there’s a hint of irony. The assistant is Arkansas’ video coordinator, Riley Hall. So the video coordinator may go down because of: You guessed it, a video.
Ironically this guy, Riley Hall @riley_hall5 is the Razorbacks video coordinator…
— Lee K. Howard (@HowardWKYT) March 11, 2023
