USC-Clemson handshake line breaks up early. Here’s what coaches said about it
Frank Martin and Brad Brownell shook hands following South Carolina’s 67-54 win at Littlejohn Coliseum on Sunday. But that’s about as far as the post-game pleasantries went in the 170th installment of this rivalry.
Perhaps prompted by a mini-confrontation between Gamecock Jair Bolden and Tiger Tevin Mack, both teams seemed heated after the game ended. The referees sensed enough of it to stop the traditional handshake line and get the teams off the floor.
“I got no idea what happened behind me,” said Martin, the eighth-year USC coach. “It’s a competitive game. Brad does an incredible job. We’ve done this eight years now against each other, class program. Nothing but class. We’ve never had a situation. Obviously something happened behind me. I had to do television, I had to address my team and I had to come in here. I haven’t asked everybody what happened.”
The ESPN feed captured little off what transpired between players. The TV broadcast briefly showed Bolden with the ball as time expired and Clemson’s Mack reaching around the USC player and toward the ball.
Video posted by WACH Fox shows a referee appearing to separate the two players moments later.
“I’ll tell you what I did like: When I turned around, Jair, who I’ve been real mad about being passive, was being aggressive,” Martin said. “Now if he started something, I’ll deal with him for that.
“But there was nothing there. That was just two teams that were competitive and when the game ends, there was a lot of emotion.”
Brownell also downplayed the post-game scene.
“I didn’t see any of it,” Brownell said. “I didn’t see any of it. I just saw someone grabbing Tevin ... Going to find out what happened. Didn’t see anything.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2019 at 9:16 PM.
