Wednesday’s SEC matchup between the No.2 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and the South Carolina Gamecocks comes during an extremely tumultuous time for Alabama regarding star forward Brandon Miller.
A dark cloud has surrounded Alabama’s basketball program after a fatal shooting in January occurred involving Alabama player Darius Miles, subsequently leading to him being charged with capital murder.
This situation led to a nasty altercation in Wednesday’s game between fans of both teams after a chant emerged from South Carolina fans about Miller.
New information emerged about the case earlier this week when police officers testified that Brandon Miller allegedly brought Miles the gun that defendant Michael Davis allegedly used to kill Harris. This was only intensified when Alabama head coach Nate Oats said that the program has “known the situation” since it happened.
Tensions surrounding Alabama’s program are clearly very high at the moment. And South Carolina fans did not help things by starting a “lock him up” chant on Wednesday while Miller was at the free throw line.
This seemingly led to a fight breaking out in the stands. While no video was shown of the altercation, ESPN announcer Mike Morgan detailed the interaction while the action on the court was paused.
Truly a bizarre scene.
With South Carolina fans chanting "lock him up" Brandon Miller misses a free throw. Play is briefly stopped shortly after due to a fight in the stands, behind the same basket Miller was shooting to. pic.twitter.com/oAmXVrbDCF
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 23, 2023
“We’ve got a fight going on behind one of the baskets and the referees have stopped play,” said Harvey. “This is the first time I have ever had this. We stopped play because there is a fight going on in the stands.”
Luckily it did not take long for security in the arena to break up the altercation and remove those involved.
ESPN cameras briefly showed a police officer leading a man in an Alabama T-shirt up the stairs. pic.twitter.com/8AdTcIbE2P
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) February 23, 2023
Many college basketball fans took notice of this contentious interaction and offered their take on the matter.
Never a fan of fighting in the stands for any reason – but also Brandon Miller should not be an active member of the Alabama basketball team. https://t.co/PwwxVl1WwO
— Julian Spivey (@julianspivey44) February 23, 2023
— Ben Ross (@BenRossTweets) February 23, 2023
I don’t imagine the chants, taunts, and other things will go away this year https://t.co/lono9uEg9g
— Parker Ainsworth says “Run It Back” (@painsworth512) February 23, 2023
I’ve suddenly gotten flashbacks to Pierre Pierce road games after his ordeal. https://t.co/nTN2IdWnai
— Cody Foster (@Co2dy_Foster) February 23, 2023
It certainly seems like this situation may be something that follows Alabama for the remainder of their season as long as Brandon Miller is on the floor for the program.
[Awful Announcing on Twitter] Photo Credit: ESPN
