No hard feelings exist among the Hawaii men’s basketball team in the wake of Thursday’s unexpected fan encounter at UC Santa Barbara that drew national attention.
The incident of a UCSB student sprinting onto the Thunderdome court, getting in UH coach Gib Arnold’s face, then retreating back up into the Gaucho student section, has been replayed countless times by ESPN and other media outlets.
Soon after the Rainbow Warriors arrived back in Honolulu for Saturday’s senior night game against Cal State Fullerton at the Stan Sheriff Center, Arnold reflected on the episode that led "SportsCenter" in the hours after the 86-77 loss to the Gauchos.
UH’s coaches and players collected some praise for not lashing out at the brazen fan, who was later arrested. Players Christian Standhardinger and Garrett Nevels lightly pushed the student away from the UH bench area.
"Yeah, I mean you don’t really know what to do in a situation like that," Arnold said. "I mean, when I turned and saw the guy yelling at my face, your first thing to do is, Hey, I’m going to punch this kid.’ You know? Luckily, thought better about it. If I would’ve knocked him out, I could’ve maybe won an ESPY but maybe lost my job. So, you know, guy was a nutcase. You don’t really know how to deal with those guys. I’m just glad that was all it was. You look back at it, it could have been anything, some crazed guy. It was just some overzealous college kid."
Technical fouls were issued to UH guard Brandon Spearman and Arnold immediately preceding the fan’s appearance. No tech was given to UCSB for the disturbance.
The UCSB athletic department issued a formal apology on Friday.
"On behalf of the UCSB student-athletes and staff we are disappointed and saddened by the singular act of a student during the first half of (Thursday) night’s men’s basketball game versus Hawaii. We have apologized to Hawaii athletics director Ben Jay and Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell. Head coach Bob Williams also apologized to Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold on behalf of the department."
Standhardinger and forward Isaac Fotu didn’t hold the incident against the team that swept them home-and-home.
"I don’t really think that’s their fault," Standhardinger said. "They’re a great team, and if there’s a crazy drunk guy running from the crowd and coming on the court that’s not their fault. I appreciate their apology and I wish them the best."
Fotu said he noticed a relatively light amount of security around the arena before the game but didn’t think any more of it.
"I just think one person shouldn’t ruin it for the whole student body," Fotu said. "I don’t think that’s what they represent and I think the fans as a whole were fine apart from that one guy."
Arnold said what the fan told him "was not for print." The coach was able to find some humor in the matter.
"I don’t know what he was mad about. I mean, they shot 41 free throws to our 17. I should have been up running at him."
