In basketball, if Louisville and Kentucky are on the court, drama will likely ensue.
That held true Monday night, when a game at The Basketball Tournament between La Familia, a team comprised of former Kentucky players, and The Ville, a team featuring former Louisville players, ended with a near-brawl following a spitting incident.
Andrew Harrison, who helped lead Kentucky to the 2014 and 2015 Final Four, hit the game-winning 3-pointer in La Familia’s 70-61 victory (Elam ending) at Freedom Hall in Louisville. The crowd of 13,506 nearly doubled the previous record (7,202) for the winner-take-all $1 million tournament.
During the celebration, La Familia’s Nate Sestina, who led all scorers with 22 points, embraced The Ville’s Chinanu Onuaku, who told Sestina to stop using the “L’s down” gesture to mock Louisville.
Onuaku, per video of the incident, told Sestina, “Don’t do that again,” before he spat in his face.
“Emotions ran high,” said Sestina, who confirmed that Onuaku had spat at him. “That’s what this game does to people. It had been great chatter the whole game, nothing crazy, nothing personal. And then it got personal, obviously. That’s what this game is.”
Players from both teams then began pushing and shoving one another as security officials and police officers stepped between them to prevent further escalation.
Onuaku on Tuesday issued an apology on social media.
“I want to apologize for my actions following last night’s game,” Onuaku posted to X. “I let my emotions and pride for my university overcome me in the moment. I love my UofL and I love this town. L’s up.”
It was just the latest dustup in the rivalry.
Former Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton once called Louisville “little brother” during an interview. In 1989, Louisville’s Boo Brewer caught Kentucky’s Sean Woods underneath the basket and tossed him over his shoulder. And during the 2015-16 season, Rick Pitino, who has won national titles at both schools, was coaching the Cardinals at Rupp Arena when he was accused of using an obscene gesture as he left the court (Pitino denied it).
On Monday, former NBA stars were on both sides. Montrezl Harrell, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022-23, led a Louisville team that also featured Peyton Siva and Russ Smith, two stars on the 2013 national title team. La Familia 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 in TBT because of Monday’s matchup with Louisville’s alumni team.
“This game right here that we just played was the reason that I decided to come play,” Cauley-Stein said. “This thing is different. I knew it was going to sell out. … There is no other feeling like that. It took 10 years to get that feeling back. I’m going to ride it for the next couple of days for sure.”
La Familia advances to the quarterfinals of TBT.
Following the postgame shoving match, Sestina didn’t back down on his view of the rivalry.
“L’s down,” he said. “Always.”
