TUCSON, Arizona — It was a little jeering in January ahead of some madness in March.
On Wednesday, Adia Barnes downplayed an incident that happened following Saturday's 68-66 overtime loss at Oregon. As the game ended, Oregon head coach Kelly Graves apparently cursed at the Wildcat coach who then responded with her middle finger.
The incident was not caught on Pac-12 Network cameras but there were several tweets about it following the game. One tweet was from Wildcat guard Shaina Pellington in an account that has since been protected.
It wasn't specified what was said between the two coaches.
Tonight was a battle! It was a very emotional game! I apologize for being out of character and letting my emotions get the best of me.
— ADIA BARNES COPPA 🐻⬇️🌵👨👨👧👦❤️💙 (@AdiaBarnes) January 16, 2022
On Wednesday, Barnes sounded much like Graves did when he spoke to reporters on Monday.
"Things get extremely competitive when you are in the game," said Barnes. "It's the heat of the moment. I think it's just more of an issue because it's a male and a female. But, we're both competitors. His team backs him. My team backs me. There are no hard feelings."
"I think whatever happened after the game has been blown up, to be honest with you," Graves told reporters on Monday. "I don't think it was anything more on either side. That's what competitors do. We compete, and sometimes that's not always pretty. But I think it was blown out of proportion."
There will be a rematch when Oregon visits McKale Center on February 4th.
