Bryant’s Earl Timberlake Was Covered in Blood After Taking an Elbow to the Head

Stephen Douglas | Mar 21, 2025

Earl Timberlake speaks with an official after getting bloodied. / Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images

Michigan State took a 33-28 lead into halftime against the No. 15 seed Bryant Bulldogs in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday night. While the Spartans got 15 off the bench from Coen Carr, Bryant got 15 combined from Rafael Pinzon and Earl Timberlake.

Timberlake might have scored more but he spent part of the first half in the locker room getting patched up after he took an errant elbow to the forehead while fighting for the ball under the basket with Michigan State's Carson Cooper.

Cooper's elbow opened up a cut on Timberlake's head that bled.

A lot.

By the time Timberlake sat up and started complaining to the official, his face was covered in blood.

Bryant’s Earl Timberlake is profusely bleeding after being bumped in the face pic.twitter.com/uJXGXOgP5Y

— buck (@buckybdger) March 22, 2025

After review, the officials decided that it was incidental contact.

"With blood like that, you've gotta look (at the replay). I just thought it was a common foul."

Rules analyst @GeneSteratore on the foul that led to the cut on Earl Timberlake's face pic.twitter.com/Bn8Dr0JOJ0

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 22, 2025

Timberlake, Bryant's leading rebounder this season, had the cut covered up enough to return to the game a few minutes later.

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