Very few people know exactly what the aged man in the audience said to Marcus Smart. Regardless, he's not going to be the one criticized for the next few days on thinkpieces, ESPN, and Twitter. Smart is going to be the target even though he wasn't ejected. The star lost his cool (and later the game to Texas Tech, 65-61) as he shoved the attendee, giving some viewers a flashback of the Ron Artest incident.
UPDATE: Apparently the man in the audience, Jeff Orr, is Texas Tech's No. 1 fan.
This isn't the first time he's tried to get into an opponent's head either:
Jeff Orr and Bryan Davis from an A&M game. He is a PASSIONATE fan. Still, no excuse for a player hitting a fan. pic.twitter.com/MuFOVop2mP
As for Oklahoma State, head coach Travis Ford said, "I'm still trying to figure it out."
UPDATE: Here's video of the incident:
UPDATE: A lot of people feared this was a possibility, but there are sources reporting Orr said the infamous racial epithet.
Radio analyst John Holcomb confirms what he said on air: He heard Marcus Smart say the fan called him the n-word.
Orr says otherwise in a text message he sent to friend and CBS personality Doug Gottlieb:
Text convo from my Tech friend w/Orr- Orr is Tech's biggest fan-everyone knows him, he goes to every game pic.twitter.com/1ZlN6gAdz3
RELATED: The 25 Craziest Brawls in Sports History (Video)
[via The Big Lead]