Fresno State basketball coach Rodney Terry wasn't having it with a rogue fan who he says called his players "thugs" during the team's Wednesday night game at the University of New Mexico. The remark reportedly came with less than 10 seconds left in the second half, after a New Mexico guard ran into a Fresno State guard as he tried to cut through a double team. The Fresno State player disagreed with the official's call, leading to boos from the home crowd. After the insult was uttered, lead referee Randy McCall, asked UNM if they could have an employee pull up a seat next to the fan so he could be babysat as the final seconds ticked away.
In the moment, Terry's response to the insult was described by the Albuquerque Journal as "immediate and emotional," and also led to the game being put on pause for several minutes.
"I’ve got a team where I think we do everything the right way, both on and off the court the right way," Terry said to the Journal after the contest. "We’ve got a class group. We do things the right way. … We don’t have thugs. I’ve got good guys in our program. We graduate guys. We don’t have thugs. I’m never going to let a guy say that."
Terry did not say whether he believed the word to be racially-charged or not, though that shouldn't stop people who weren't there from recklessly speculating either way. In fact there was much debate on Albuquerque local radio over that very topic, with comments you can read over at the Journal's site.
Also, if you want, you can watch the incident and hear Terry's postgame remarks here:
And try not to heckle college kids if you can avoid it.
