Yet another college basketball incident occurred Thursday night during a stoppage of play when a UC Santa Barbara fan stormed the court during the team's Big West Conference game against Hawaii and angrily confronted the coaching staff.
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The man charged the court wearing a royal blue UC Santa Barbara Class of 2014 T-Shirt and was later arrested after being ushered off the court during the Gauchos' eventual 86-77 victory. 22-year Hawaii coach Gib Arnold said it was something he had never experienced before.
"It was a little crazy to have a fan pushing your players around. I've never seen it. You don't expect it," Arnold said in a postgame TV interview, according to ESPN.
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The incident came shortly after a brawl between fans and players ensued last week and led to the suspension of New Mexico State Aggies players K.C. Ross-Miller and Renaldo Dixon and one month after Oklahoma State star guard Marcus Smart was suspended three games for his altercation with a fan late in a game.
UC Santa Barbara led the game 30-15 at the time the game was halted with 6:02 remaining in the first half after Hawaii guard Brandon Spearman was called for an intentional foul and Arnold was arguing with the referees.
As Arnold and an assistant coach came on the court to talk to the referees after a technical foul was called, the fan stormed onto the field and angrily got in Arnold's face.
Christian Standhardinger and teammate Garrett Nevels each shoved the fan away as he gestured challenging them and backpedalling off the court.
The man was believed to be a student and was arrested by campus police after the game.
"Historically when things like this happen, the student, who was arrested, would go in front of Judicial Affairs, which is part of Student Affairs," UC Santa Barbara spokesman Bill Mahoney told ESPN via e-mail. "The extent of his punishment would be speculation, but I would doubt it will be mild."
Arnold said that he believed it was an isolated incident and that it won't become a trend that angry, possibly impaired fans will storm the court.
"It doesn't concern me,'' Arnold said via ESPN. "It's rare. I hope security would be better. The guy was wasted and in a different world. It is what it is. You can't control crazies. That's why they're crazy."
While Arnold believes that this won't become a trend, there have been three incidents in the last month adding to the growing concern of fan involvement during games.
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