In basketball, if Louisville and Kentucky are on the court, drama will likely ensue.
That happened Monday night, when a game in the Basketball Tournament between The Family, a team made up of former Kentucky players, and The Ville, a team with former Louisville players, ended in a near-brawl following a spitting incident.
Andrew Harrison, who helped lead Kentucky to the Final Four in 2014 and 2015, hit the game-winning 3-pointer in La Familia's 70-61 victory (final at Elam) at Freedom Hall in Louisville. The crowd of 13,506 nearly doubled the previous record (7,202) for the $1 million, winner-take-all tournament.
During the celebration, La Familia's Nate Sestina, who led all scorers with 22 points, hugged The Ville's Chinanu Onuaku, who told Sestina to stop using the “L's down” gesture to mock Louisville.
Onuaku, according to video of the incident, told Sestina: “Don't do that again,” before spitting in his face.
“Emotions were running high,” said Sestina, who confirmed that Onuaku had spat at him. “That's what this game does to people. There had been a lot of talk throughout the game, nothing crazy, nothing personal. And then it got personal, obviously. That's what this game is.”
Players from both teams began pushing and elbowing each other while security officers and police stood between them to prevent further escalation.
It was just the latest clash in the rivalry.
Former Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton once called Louisville a “little brother” during an interview. In 1989, Louisville’s Boo Brewer caught Kentucky’s Sean Woods under the rim and threw him over his shoulder. And during the 2015-16 season, Rick Pitino, who won national titles at both schools, was coaching the Cardinals at Rupp Arena when he was accused of using an obscene gesture as he walked off the court (Pitino denied it).
On Monday, former NBA stars were on both sides. Montrezl Harrell, who will play for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022-23, led a Louisville team that also featured Peyton Siva and Russ Smith, two stars from the 2013 national championship team. The Family included former NBA players such as Willie Cauley-Stein and Eric Bledsoe, who was on the NBA All-Defensive First Team in 2018-19.
Cauley-Stein, who last played in the NBA during the 2021-22 season, said he agreed to play on TBT because of Monday's matchup with the Louisville alumni team.
“This game we just played was the reason I decided to come play,” Cauley-Stein said. “This is different. I knew it was going to be sold out. … There's no other feeling like that. It took me 10 years to get that feeling back. I'm going to build on it over the next few days, for sure.”
The Family advances to the TBT quarterfinals.
After the post-match shoving match, Sestina did not back down from his view of the rivalry.
“L is down,” he said. “Always.”
