Arizona-Arizona State Rivalry Game Gets Testy, Ends In Headbutting & Ejections

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There's never any love lost between the Arizona Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils. But things got especially testy during Saturday's hoops contest between the intrastate rivals.

In a game full of dramatics, the Wildcats ultimately picked up the 81-72 win on the Devils' home court in Tempe.

Officials dished out four technical fouls throughout the game, the first to ASU head coach Bobby Hurley midway through the first half. Hurley was T'd up for protesting a foul called on Sun Devils guard Adam Miller. The coach ripped off his tie in frustration.

It was a nice tie, too.

Later in the first half, Arizona guard Jaden Bradley was handed a technical after staring down the ASU bench.

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But the real fireworks started with just 30 seconds left on the clock. Arizona guard Caleb Love was given a technical and ejected after getting into a skirmish with ASU's BJ Freeman. After review, though, the official also gave Freeman a tech for headbutting Love after the ball went out of bounds. Freeman was ejected as well.

At that point, Hurley was over it. He sent his bench to the locker room before the final whistle, then called for his team to skip the handshake line after the game.

Hurley said after the game that he skipped the handshake line as a means of deescalating the contentious situation.

"It was relentless, constant chatter from a couple of the Arizona players that was not being policed properly," Hurley said. "Of course, they're going to be happy with winning, but it was done with no class, in my opinion."

When asked about the late-game fight, Hurley had nothing nice to say about Love: "I do get a vote for All-Conference, and I can tell you who's not getting a vote."

Love finished with 27 points, six rebounds and seven assists for the Wildcats, while Freeman contributed 19 points, three rebounds and three assists for the Sun Devils.

The two teams will meet again on March 4 — this time in Tucson.