Richard Jefferson Rips Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley for Skipping Handshake After Loss

Richard Jefferson Criticizes Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley for Skipping Post-Game Handshake

The Arizona Wildcats’ 81–72 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday ended with some drama. In the final minute, Arizona State guard BJ Freeman headbutted Arizona’s Caleb Love, which led to a scuffle and resulted in technical fouls and ejections.

After the ejections, Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley instructed his players to head to the locker room with about 30 seconds remaining. When the game ended, Hurley quickly ushered his players off the court, waving away Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd, who was attempting to exchange the customary post-game handshake.

Former Arizona player and current basketball analyst Richard Jefferson was not pleased with Hurley’s actions. On social media, Jefferson wrote, “Hey Bobby, you still acting like a [clown]. He’s always been this way from my days working at the Pac-12 Network.”

He would call the PAC-12 offices if you said anything even remotely constructive about ASU. Multiple analysts were warned. He would complain that the schools owned the network and they BETTER not say anything but positive things. I could go on more about his antics but I’ll let… https://t.co/WLJq7gxxmA

— Richard Jefferson (@Rjeff24) February 1, 2025

Jefferson added in another post: “He would call the Pac-12 offices if you said anything remotely constructive about ASU. Multiple analysts were warned. He would complain that the schools owned the network and they BETTER not say anything but positive things. I could go on more about his antics, but I’ll let him just take the L.”

Hurley, who is in his 10th season as Arizona State’s head coach, responded to the post-game controversy by explaining his decision not to shake hands. He said, “If you were right near our bench, it was relentless, constant chatter from a couple of the Arizona players that was not being policed properly. It was done with no class, in my opinion.”

The Wildcats and Sun Devils are set to meet again on March 4 at McKale Memorial Center.