During halftime of last night's marquee matchup between the Louisville Cardinals and the UNC Tar Heels, Louisville's head coach Rick Pitino had to be restrained by members of his coaching staff from going at a UNC fan who had heckled him into a fit of rage.
It's unclear exactly what the man said to get under Pitino's skin but he definitely succeeded in pissing the coach off, and was ejected from the Dean E. Smith Center shortly after his exchange with the coach.
Pitino told reporters after the game, per ESPN:
"I take it from the students all the time; you expect it from the students. But from an adult? And then to turn his back on me like he's a coward?" Pitino said. "And he is a coward, but North Carolina is a classy place and he doesn't speak for the rest of the people."
"I've always said this is the classiest place in college basketball, until I met a fan on the way out," Pitino said. "It always reminded me of a class place, but they're getting just like some of the other places now."
ESPN's Maria Taylor reported the fan in question yelled, "Pitino, you suck!"
That's it? "You suck" is what had Rick Pitino itching to rip this dude's throat out? It had to be something deeper than that.
Whatever the case may be, UNC coach Roy Williams was voiced his displeasure with the way the fan treated Pitino, and says he hopes something like that never happens again.
"I don't like that. We're North Carolina. We don't have to be like everybody else," Williams said. "You can raise Cain, you can boo, but you don't have to say stuff that we as coaches have to put up with on the road. I hope that never happens again at North Carolina."
