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Richard Jefferson Rips Arizona State's Bobby Hurley for Skipping Handshake After Loss

Tom Dierberger

Bobby Hurley is in his 10th season at Arizona State.
Bobby Hurley is in his 10th season at Arizona State. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The Arizona Wildcats' 81–72 rivalry win over the Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday ended with a bit of drama.

In the final minute of regulation, Arizona State guard BJ Freeman delivered a headbutt onto the cranium of Arizona's Caleb Love, which led to a scuffle as well as a couple of technical fouls and ejections.

Following the ejections, Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley instructed his players on the bench to go to the locker room with about 30 seconds left in regulation. And once the final buzzer sounded, Hurley ushered his players off the court and waved off Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, who was looking for the customary end-of-game handshake.

Former Arizona star and current basketball analyst Richard Jefferson was not impressed with Hurley's behavior.

"Hey Bobby, you still acting like a [clown]," Jefferson wrote on social media. "He's always been this way from my days working at the Pac-12 [Network]."

"He would call the Pac-12 offices if you said anything even remotely constructive about ASU," Jefferson continued in another post. "Multiple analysts were warned. He would complain that the schools owned the network and they BETTER not say anything but positive things. I could go on more about his antics but I’ll let him just take the L."

Hurley is in his 10th season on the Arizona State bench. Jefferson, who now works for ESPN as an NBA analyst, began working for the Pac-12 Network in 2018 shortly after retiring from his playing career.

"If you were right near our bench, it was relentless, constant chatter from a couple of the Arizona players that was not being policed properly," Hurley said after the game while explaining his decision to not shake the hands of Arizona coaches and players. "It was done with no class in my opinion."

The Wildcats and Sun Devils meet again March 4 at McKale Memorial Center.

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Tom Dierberger
TOM DIERBERGER

Tom Dierberger is a staff writer and editor on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in November 2023 after stints at FOX Sports, Bally Sports and NBC Sports. Dierberger has a bachelor's in communication from St. John's University. In his spare time, he can be seen throwing out his arm while playing fetch with his dog, Walter B. Boy.

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