Brawl Ends UC, XU Basketball Game

[Update: Cincinnati has suspended Yancy Gates, Cheikh Mbodj and Octavius Ellis for six games a piece and Ge'Lawn Guyn for one. Xavier suspended Dezmine Wells and Landen Amos four games, Mark Lyons for two games and Tu Holloway for one game.]

It wasn’t quite as bad as the Georgetown brawl in China from this past summer, but the rivalry game between No. 8 Xavier and Cincinnati ended in very ugly fashion Saturday when a brawl resulted in the contest being called with 9.4 seconds remaining.

With the Musketeers just seconds away from a 76-53 victory, Xavier’s Tu Holloway and Cincinnati’s Ge’Lawn Guyn starting trash talking each other. After Guyn put his hand on Holloway, Xavier’s Dezmine Wells shoved Guyn down to start the bench-clearing melee.

The ugliest part of the fight came when Bearcats forward Yancy Gates only perpetuated the reputation of UC players as misfits when he slugged Xavier center Kenny Frease in the face with a brutal cheap shot that left Frease bloodied. A very talented but underachieving senior big man who was averaging 12.9 PPG and 9.1 RPG so far this season, Gates was suspended last February for a violation of team rules but claimed he was a changed man in October.

Xavier’s Holloway didn’t exactly sound contrite after the game, admitting that he trash talked the UC bench.

Said Holloway: “I talked to that whole staff. I said this is my city. I’m cut from a different cloth. None of them guys on their team is like me. I let the whole staff know none of them was like me.”

“We’re grown men over here. We got a whole bunch of gangsters in the locker room. Not thugs, but tough guys on the court.”

Um, right. You can expect Xavier coach Chris Mack to talk to his star guard about those remarks and Holloway could face a suspension for his actions.

As for Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin, he said after the game that he will meet with the school’s president and athletic director to see which Bearcats will remain on the team, meaning Gates might not just be facing a very lengthy suspension but could be finished entirely at the program.

[Bubba Prog]

3:11 PM on 12/10/2011

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fowlintent

I know it ain’t politically correct, but much of this crap is ghetto ball brought to college. A lot of these kids couldn’t attend high school, much less college, if the weren’t coddled/helped/cheated along. It’s time to decide whether college sports is truly amatuer or whether college sports is simply a farm league for the pros.
duck52

i agree the racist b.s. should stop,but ,all yall know, if white guy would have hit black guy,wouldn’t rev. jackson and al sharpton be all over it?
- driver_king
  
  I agree. it’s the first thing i thought of. a white guy would never hear the end of it . If they cant teach kids the right way about respect, then there shouldn’t be any teams.
  Look at the NBA. where do you think the college players are learning from.
  Basketball is nothing but a “all about me game” I didn’t miss it at all.
  millionaire thugs and future prisoners
ric

these teams teach their players to be gangsters and their schools like that year after year. They shouldn’t be playing and end both teams seasons now. NCAA needs to take action…
JUST SAY’IN

Really ? I Didn’t Post ANYTHING Derogatory !!!!!
Anonymous

Gangz , Thugz , and no harmony sports yeh, right
- double standered
  
  what about the thugs in hockey?
Justme

The Xavier player ran his big a** into the crowd shoving people back with his hands. If you look at the film Kenny Freese the white guy ran into the crowd pushing guys back. If his big a** did not want to get hit stay away from the crowd. It was not a sucker push. Anytime you ran your stupid a** into a crowd that is angry and fighting it is a chance that you may get punch in the face. If, Yancy Gates get a suspension Kenny Freese should get a suspension. It is not Yancy’s fault that the other guy cant take a punch.
PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR HANDS ON ANOTHER MAN DURING AN ARGUMENT IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO GET HIT.
- Anonymous
  
  You’re an idiot. It was a sucker punch! Frease was looking in a completely different direction than Gates and Gates hit him! How’s it NOT a sucker punch when you hit someone that’s not even lookin at you? And then he’s PROUD of it! That’s the kicker! This isn’t even the first time he’s been suspended either! He got two games last year for “violating team rules”. If you have to suspend a guy twice within a calendar year it’s time to let him go!
- Sluggo
  
  Are you kidding. Frease ran in and threw no punches. Yates thru an obvious sucker punch from the side. Then the punk #13 Cheikh Mbodj kicked him while he was on the floor. Real classy.
- Anonymous
  
  You Sir, are just ignorant. Watch the tape again idiot. Oh, and also, please learn the english language.
- Pete
  
  You are obviously a bigot if you don’t think that was a sucker punch. Hit a guy that isn’t looking at you, and then walk away from the crowd like a punk. He is a b&*&*
- driver_king
  
  good one “just me.” watch it again . when you dont see a punch coming and the person throwing it see’s you?????
  What else can it be????? that has to be one of the dumbest comments on this whole page.
- Hate dumb people
  
  The white boy was in the mix to break things up !! Ya watch the video
  First off if the white boy would have punched the black boy it would be
  All over the news !!
poncho gonsalez

next time throw all these loosers in jail, better yet call the sheriff……..
steven sanabria

i am very sadden by the lack of respect that cincy and xavier displayed as the main role models in basketball toady. if this where last year, then it probably would have never happened. but this year with no NBA games. it is just awfull. these players should know that they are part of our countries future. you show this lack of respect for yourself, your country and culture then the rest of the world laughs at you. at this very moment the country is rebuilding what was lost based on 9/11/2001. the players need to understand , when they suit up. it is all real. stop pretending that there is street life at this acedemic level. you was born with a gift that mandates the spotlight. illustrate the correct decision when you take the shot. yes this applies in real life and not just basketball. you must now come together as a body and clean this horrible display of ethics and choose not to be a belated jive turkey. just succeed. the fans look up to you. don’t let them down and above all yourselves. you guys let me down, your pears and obama. whenever you think you guys have that bad, remember your new york brother from another mother: little blu envelope.
Sluggo

Two of Cincinnati’s premier basketball teams show how classless they are. U.C.’s #13 Mbodj kick to XU’s Frease while he was down from a sucker punch should land him in jail and off the team for good.
- driver_king
  
  He has the tape. file a complaint…Sue the college and the two players. dont let them off so easy. I’m sure there is a lawyer somewhere that would take the case. a six game penalty for doing something that could’ve been a lot worse. what if he damaged his eye? it could’ve ended his chance at the NBA
Anonymous2183

I am so tired of the gangster mentality. I think its time to get rid of Yancy Gates and totally ban him from any further participation in sports of any kind. It’s time to make a statement and start getting rid of the gangsters and trouble makers in sports.
Anonymous

These kids, and I stress kids, should be lucky to be where they are and have the opportunity that they have. It certainly speaks to how they were raised and what they were taught even in high school. They should be kicked off the team and never given the chance to play ball again…..ANYWHERE! It’s not about color or gangster it’ about simple morals and what is right. Keep your fellings in check or don’t play the sport.
Maddog

With a 23 point lead and the game decided why were there still 4 starters (Xavier 3 – CE 1) on the floor? Especially if the coaches knew trash talking was going on. The coaches need to take some of the blame for not controlling these teenage thugs they who get a free college education. Kenny Fease and any other player that left the bench to join the brawl should too receive some type of reprimand. There are a lot of kids that would love to play the GAME of basketball, get an education, and get it for free!
Jerry Noble

Someone should beat the ever loving S— out of #34 for a chicken S— cheap shot. He is puck a–.
sparky smith

The refs should have felt the tension that was in the game way before this. They could have easily stopped this by handing out technical fouls early in the game. This is a pure shame. They are lucky to be in school where they just have to dribble a stupid ball. Other students who are not on scholarship are just struggling to make ends meet, their parents are sacrifiicing at home to put them through school and you have ghetto fool again, acting like maniacs. They get everything free, amazing. They need to be suspended for the entire year, do real community service like clean toilets and build and repair homes for people who are in need. We give them everything. They need to really be punished for this. Again , it says violence is the answer when someone gets in your face. How embarrasing for the universities involved, it is a shame. For the families of some of the players ? Universities should start screening their student athlietes for psychological problems. Everyone is not sound in the mind to go to school, study, and act like they are civilized. If I were the coach, I would get rid of the fools who started the mess. Get rid of them, let them go back to their neighborhood and fight and steal, and get on welfare and section 8, whatever. Just get rid of them.
I Heart Yancy Gates

Ummm i was watching for entertainment value.. Got it.,,, Could care less what happens to these kids… Some of you beggin for them to be kicked out are the same people ordering UFC fights. Yeah it was a cheap shot but dont walk into a fight
George

Get a life people it happens in sports! It happens from ice skating to the golf course! Clearly most of you have never played a sport, Hold up words just in based off of your input the world is coming to a end a white man just married a black lady and they had a mixed baby WOW BANG BOOM SLAM HOLY BATMAN!
- driver_king
  
  when was the last time you saw a fight breakout during a golf tournament on TV??? Answer…..NEVER
Bri

It was a chicken sh– sucker punch just like the kick!! Players must be getting it from a coach that teaches C S. He should be fired and the players suspended for season.
ted

Just happened by the clip on Yardbarker . Just a bunch of gangster getto crap. This is why this crap is not played on TV in my house and never will be. If 90% of these gangster thugs were not snuck into these basketball programs under the academic radar they would likely be in some sort of trouble with the law and/or in prison. Seriously, is this what we want our kids watching and viewing as role models in athletics? Take this crap off the air. Even one of the players was still talking gangster getto crap in the post game interview. And why would a coach in his right mind let any of his players do a post game after that? Unbelievable.

Brawl Ends UC, XU Basketball Game

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