Kansas basketball's Bill Self bluntly refutes Shaka Smart's story amid dustup: 'I doubt it was accurate'
The Maui Invitational is loaded with top college basketball programs this season and one of those teams is Kansas basketball . The Jayhawks came into this season ranked #1 in the country as they are always expected to be one of the best teams each year. So far through five games, it's clear that Kansas has another good team, but it is also clear that they have some work to do. We saw the Jayhawks nearly go down last week when they took on Kentucky in the Champions Classic, but a late comeback led to a win. However, no late comeback came for Kansas on Tuesday night when they faced Marquette basketball in the semis of the Maui Invitational.
Kansas basketball came into this matchup favored by 3.5 points, but the Golden Eagles were the team that came out with the victory, and it wasn't very close. Marquette got their lead into double digits around the halfway point of the first half, and they never looked back. The final score was 73-59. It was an eventful game, and one of the most intriguing moments came late in the first half when Kansas head coach Bill Self and Marquette head coach Shaka Smart were seen arguing near half court.
Shaka Smart looks unimpressed with whatever Bill Self is saying pic.twitter.com/ZdRzdSuDGc— Ryan Cassidy November 22, 2023
It was unclear what was going on at this point in the game, but the two were clearly arguing about something before being separated from the ref after a few seconds. Both coaches were asked about the incident after Marquette won the game, and their responses created more intrigue to what happened. Smart said that the situation started because of a comment from Kansas star Kevin McCullar Jr. and everything escalated from there , according to a tweet from Krysten Peek. Self wasn't having it.
“ I doubt it was accurate , just so you know, and I don't even care,” Self said in regards to Smart's comments, according to a video posted to Twitter by gifhawk2. “I'm not going to talk about it but I guarantee it wasn't accurate.”
It does not seem like these two coaches are getting along very well at the moment. That situation was one that we don't typically see in college basketball. If one coach goes to mid-court to talk to a ref, the other is typically on their own bench. At the end of the day, Marquette got the last laugh over Kansas in this one.
These two teams are certainly two of the best in the country, and perhaps we'll see Kansas and Marquette play again come March. This situation will be one to keep an eye on if that does end up happening.
