Where there’s smoke, there’s a coach being ejected. That was true during at least one moment in Tuesday’s game between Bill Self’s No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks and the unranked Arizona State Wildcats at the Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Ariz.
With 6:07 remaining in the first half, an offensive foul was charged against Kansas freshman guard Darryn Peterson. Self clearly did not like the call, as he vehemently protested it, leading to consecutive technical fouls that caused him to be thrown out of the game.
Self then started to walk off the court as Arizona State fans cheered in the background. As he was about to enter the tunnel, multiple smoke machines went off, as though to add some more flavor to the raucous atmosphere inside the building. You can watch that moment here.
Whoever was in charge of those smoke machines was probably waiting all season long for such an opportunity to present itself.
Without Self calling the shots from the sidelines, the Jayhawks struggled to catch up to Arizona State, which ended the first half with a 20-point lead and later came away with a 70-60 win, leaving Kansas with its second straight defeat and third in four games.
The ejection was just Self’s second since taking over as the Jayhawks’ head coach in 2003.
Self and the Jayhawks, who dropped to 21-9 overall and 11-6 in Big 12 play, will look to get it together on Saturday against the visiting Kansas State Wildcats at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.
