BJ Freeman headbutts Caleb Love late, both ejected as Arizona knocks off ASU
Feb 1, 2025, 1:43 PM | Updated: 5:05 pm
ASU’s BJ Freeman headbutted Caleb Love late in Arizona’s win, and both were both ejected as the Wildcats beat the Sun Devils 81-72 in Tempe on Saturday.
“If you were right near our bench, it was relentless, constant chatter from a couple of the Arizona players that was not being policed properly. And of course, they’re gonna be happy with winning, but it was done with no class in my opinion,” coach Bobby Hurley said postgame of what led to the altercation.
“Words that were said back and forth led to the moment where Freeman lost it and lost his cool because of the constant talk that was allowed to go on,” the coach continued.
That talk, Hurley posited, led to the altercation after Jaden Bradley scored to put the Wildcats up by nine points with under a minute left to play. Love then went face-to-face with ASU guard BJ Freeman, and Freeman headbutted Love.
Caleb Love has been ejected after a confrontation with Arizona State’s BJ Freeman. pic.twitter.com/sQx2iMjblB
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 1, 2025
Love, who threw the ASU fork down multiple times throughout the game, was ejected following the confrontation while Freeman was initially given a technical foul. Following a review, Freeman was ejected as well.
“I can tell you who’s not getting a vote (for the all-conference teams). … You can read into that, I’m sure you might know who I’m thinking of right now,” Hurley said as he walked out of his postgame press conference, implying Love would be down a vote.
After the game, Hurley elected to not shake hands with Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd, and most of the players were sent away well before the final buzzer in similar fashion.
Bobby Hurley refused to shake hands with Tommy Lloyd or Arizona and dismissed him with a wave. Almost no ASU players interacted with Arizona after the game. pic.twitter.com/PSUHuQ7MlF
— Chris Karpman (@ChrisKarpman) February 1, 2025
“I had to make a tough decision, in the best interest of our team, to get them into the locker room, so there’d be no further incidents the rest of the game and in the handshake line,” Hurley said of the early departure.
Love led the way for the Wildcats in the win scoring 27 points on 8-of-19 shooting while registering seven assists and six rebounds. Freeman led the way for the Sun Devils scoring 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting while registering three assists in the loss.