Georgetown coach Ed Cooley confronted a Xavier fan late Tuesday after the Hoyas fell 74-69 to the Musketeers inside the Cintas Center for “verbally attacking” one of his players. The incident came just after the final horn sounded in Cincinnati, leading to a heated exchange before Colley and the fan were separated.
“In tonight’s game, an opposing team fan was verbally attacking one of my players,” Cooley wrote in a statement. “While nothing physical happened, I will always protect my players if they are threatened. I have nothing but respect for Xavier and its fanbase, and I want to congratulate the Musketeers on the win. I’m proud of how hard our players fought, and now we look to the next game this Saturday as we host Seton Hall back at home.”
Cooley skipped the handshake line after the game to confront the fan. Some of the scene was caught on the FS1 broadcast but only as the barbs were nearing an end. The play-by-play of the broadcast team described what could have been an ugly interaction that was quickly deescalated by Hoyas staffers, who made sure to defuse the situation.
“Ed Cooley and a fan are going at it. Ed Cooley and a fan are face to face down on the baseline,” said FS1’s Connor Onion providing live analysis of the incident. “Malik Mack and Thomas Sorber were down there too. Couple of the Georgetown assistants come in and box him out of there. And Xavier ends this game with a little mix-up between a Xavier fan and the Georgetown staff.”
Xavier athletic director Greg Christopher was also right in the mix and stood between the fan and the Hoyas staff to stabilize the situation.
Cooley did not address the incident in his postgame media conference but admitted he was more tense than normal, owing to what he said was the struggles his team has faced.
“We’re not the old Georgetown team,” Cooley said. “Everybody’s snickering, [saying] ‘Oh, I wonder how good they’re gonna be.’ That’s alright. That’s alright. I can’t wait until this machine just keeps growing and growing and growing. That’s why I’m so edgy right now. We’re not there yet. But there will be something to be said about that. We’ll be having a different song really, really soon.”
Georgetown with the loss fell to 14-9 on the season and 5-7 in Big East play with losses now in seven of its last nine games after a 3-0 start to league play. The record is already an improvement on Cooley’s first season last year where the Hoyas finished 9-23 overall and 2-18 in Big East play.
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