Day one of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament may have dominated the hoops world on Thursday but Marquese Chriss did his part to steal the spotlight via a little scuffle between the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns late Thursday night.
Chriss escalated what was a simple bit of on-court beef between Jared Dudley and Ricky Rubio midway through the third quarter on Thursday night, getting himself an early exit and maybe a chance to catch some close games in first round action. That’s about as logical an answer as there is for what happened with him, as the play seemed to escalate simply because Chriss was frustrated.
Chriss missed a dunk on Thursday night and was more than willing to take it out on Ricky Rubio, who was already engaged with Dudley, the two jawing at one another. Dudley gave Rubio a push, ostensibly because he didn’t like how quickly Utah inbounded the ball while his teammate was on the deck, but Chriss came through with a much harder shove that sent Rubio to the floor and sent a number of players and staff from each team out to try settling things down.
Marquese Chriss was a tad upset after missing a dunk… Jared dudley hits Rubio and then Chriss plows him over 😳 pic.twitter.com/3mwZ3TYDlP
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) March 16, 2018
Even Jazz Bear seemed ready to defend Rubio, who is no stranger to getting bodychecked to the floor this season.
The Jazz Bear was ready to throw down with the Suns to defend Ricky Rubio 😭😭😭pic.twitter.com/jpKwnP6jmH
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) March 16, 2018
Chriss and Dudley were both ejected for their shoves. Donovan Mitchell also got a technical foul on the play, but Rubio stayed in the game.
