The Wichita State Shockers played an exhibition game against McGill University in Montreal yesterday, a meaningless game that was supposed to be played at half-speed and produce zero headlines. Neither of those things happened.
In the fourth quarter, Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall blew a gasket, and went full Enraged Baseball Manager on the referees:
According to the Wichita Eagle, it wasn’t just one call that got Marshall so upset. The game was a rough-and-tumble one—Wichita State center Rauno Nurger suffered a concussion had to get stitches to close a cut on his chin—and featured the scoreboard operator forgetting to credit the Shockers with a point on three separate occasions. A foul called on forward Zach Brown is what finally set off Marshall, who didn’t have too many regrets after the game:
“I’m definitely not proud of my reaction to that situation, but at some point your players have to know you’re going to stand up for them and you’ve got some fight in you,” he said. “Once I reacted, I said ‘I might as well get my money’s worth.’”
Let’s all hope this is the beginning of a long and bitter rivalry between the city of Montreal and the entire state of Kansas.