Boeheim, Grasso have postgame exchange after heated game
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — At the end of a bizarre game that featured multiple ejections, multiple technical fouls and a buzzer-beating layup, Syracuse players and Bryant players were then tasked with the traditional post-game handshake line.
Bryant beat the Orange 73-72 on a driving layup by Sherif Gross-Bullock with .8 seconds left on the game clock.
Because game officials needed to review the clock to determine if any time was left, both teams gathered in front of their benches, taking an edge off the emotion of the final drive. Syracuse’s Symir Torrence threw a quarterback pass from the Bryant end line to Syracuse’s side, but time ticked away on the touched ball and the game was officially over.
Afterward, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and Bryant coach Jared Grasso shook hands in the postgame handshake line. Then, the two engaged in conversation on the floor of the JMA Wireless Dome near the Bryant bench.
Boeheim was asked what that brief huddle was about.
“His players didn’t come to shake hands. They ran off the court, two or three of them,” Boeheim said. “I don’t know why you would do that. We lost. We shook hands. That’s what you do, win or lose. That’s what you do.”
Grasso said he wasn’t sure what happened at the end of the game. He wasn’t sure where all his players went when the buzzer sounded. He acknowledged Boeheim asked him about it.
“It was the end of an emotional game and I’m sure he was a little bit emotional after the game,” Grasso said. “Jim Boeheim is a Hall of Fame coach. I have nothing but respect for him. My players have nothing but respect for him. I don’t know what took place so it’s hard for me to say. I apologized. I said I’d talk to my guys. He’s a Hall-of-Famer. I have nothing but respect for Coach Boeheim.”
“He gave me a sarcastic apology,” Boeheim said. “Which fits him. It wasn’t an apology. That’s why I really didn’t accept it. He said he apologized but it wasn’t that kind of apology.”