Rick Pitino had to be restrained from going after a North Carolina fan as he was heading into the tunnel at halftime Wednesday night, and the Louisville coach blasted the fan after the game. He also noted that the fan was not a UNC student.
While he did not reveal exactly what it was that the fan said to him, Pitino said he has less patience for heckling fans who are not students than those who are.
Rick Pitino goes off about a "coward" UNC fan https://t.co/gP2uyHN11M
— Matt Clapp (@Matt2Clapp) February 23, 2017
“He just got in my face and said something I didn’t like,” the coach explained. “I take it from the students all the time. I expect it from students. But from an adult, who then turns his back on me, like he’s a coward … and he is a coward.”
Pitino added that he has always considered Chapel Hill to be a friendly environment, but he is starting to rethink that.
“I’ve always said this is the classiest place in college basketball, until I met a fan on the way out,” he said. “It always reminded me of a class place, but they’re getting just like some of the other places now.”
Tar Heels coach Roy Williams seemed equally upset about the incident.
Roy Williams on the incident with a UNC fan and Rick Pitino https://t.co/PK7OZsqRfO
— Matt Clapp (@Matt2Clapp) February 23, 2017
While Pitino is exaggerating a bit when he says the fan “got in my face,” something was obviously said that set him off. You can see the video of Pitino trying to go after the fan here.
