In the final moments of the first half Saturday, Terrapins men’s basketball center Diamond Stone and Wisconsin forward Vitto Brown got tangled up fighting for a loose ball. With Brown on the floor, Stone smashed Brown’s head into the court as he was pushed from behind by forward Nigel Hayes.
Despite the contact, Stone remained in the game after officials reviewed the play. Badgers forward Charlie Thomas received a technical foul, and Stone received a flagrant one foul.
Yet after Wisconsin’s 70-57 win, the team’s players seemed to forget the controversial incident ever happened.
“I don’t really remember much,” Brown said. “I was on the ground. I was looking at the student section, so I couldn’t really see anything.”
When asked if he felt his head get hit, he answered, “No, didn’t feel it.”
It took prodding from reporters to get that much from Brown. When first asked about what happened at the end of the half, he didn’t even discuss the contact.
“They shot a free throw and we shot a free throw,” Brown said.
Hayes claimed to have no recollection of the incident either.
“I don’t remember what you are talking about,” Hayes said when asked what he saw during the scuffle.
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard was pleased with how the referees dealt with the altercation.
“I talked to the officials and I was satisfied with their explanation of it,” Gard said. “I thought they handled the situation extremely well.”
Head ref DJ Carstensen offered an explanation of the officials’ ruling.
“It was a flagrant one foul,” Carstensen said. “That’s what we deemed it. We say that was a flagrant one contact foul. The ball was dead and there was contact.”
Carstensen added that the technical on Thomas was for what he said.
Terps coach Mark Turgeon said he was blocked from the incident, which occurred on the opposite end of the court.
“I did not see it,” Turgeon said. “I have heard about it. It was a pretty physical game at the time and I will watch it and I will talk to Diamond.”
