Tuesday night was not a good night for the New Orleans Privateers men’s basketball team.
New Orleans lost the NCAA Tournament opener — in Dayton’s First Four — to Mount St. Mary’s by one point, 67-66. That would be plenty enough to make it a tough night for the program, but an ugly incident on the Privateers sideline make things even worse.
The game was going to break with 6:36 left in the second half, when New Orleans junior Travin Thibodeaux was not happy with senior teammate Christavious Gill. Thibodeaux confronted Gill as the team headed to the bench, and some shoving took place, before Thibodeaux appeared to choke Gill near the huddle:
This is not okay. There is not a single possible thing that could’ve taken place out there to call for choking a teammate.
New Orleans head coach Mark Slessinger (correctly) chose to sit Thibodeaux for the rest of the game, and it will be interesting to see if anything else comes out of the incident (like, if Thibodeaux will be allowed back for his senior season).
