The University of Kansas men’s basketball team suffered a loss at the hands of No. 10 Texas Tech over the weekend, but the suffering for Jayhawks guard Zeke Mayo did not end on the court. Mayo posted to social media following the game, exposing fans who sent him threatening messages and racially-charged comments.
According to CBS Sports, fans called Mayo racial slurs, made threats referring to self-harm and threatened the Kansas star’s safety. In response, he posted screenshots of the messages, and he also apologized for his on-court performance in which he scored only five points.
However, the Jayhawks men’s head coach, Bill Self, wasn’t willing to let the conversation end there. Instead, he posted a statement himself, outraged at the threats made to Mayo.
Self’s statement read as follows, “The game today was a very good college basketball game. We played a very good team and we got beat. We had some individuals have exceptional individual games, and we had some maybe not play up to the standard they've set for themselves. But, everyone on our team, coaches included, myself, more than anyone, had opportunities to impact the game. A play here or there, that could have been the difference in the game over the course of 40 minutes. Texas Tech made more plays than we did.
“We competed. We tried. We came up short and I'm proud of their efforts and I'm also proud of their preparation to be ready for the game. We haven't had the overall year that we had hoped for ourselves, nor the year that many other people have expected, but it hasn't been from a lack of caring. I can do a lot of things better. We all could do a lot of things better. But I'll roll with these guys every day and be proud of it. Any criticism about the team should be directed at me. I'm the head coach.
“I'm looking forward to seeing how we bounce back against a terrific Houston team on Monday. Then, after that game, I'll look forward to see how we respond to a terrific Arizona team on Saturday. This is the most important time of the season, and this is the time where we need to be better, but we also need to be focused on basketball and not things being said outside of basketball that have absolutely zero merit.”
Despite the coach’s optimism for Monday night’s game, the Jayhawks were defeated by the University of Houston. And Self told reporters following the game that he believes he may have jumped the gun in releasing his statement. He told Hoops HQ, "I shouldn’t have done it, because all it did was bring more attention to what was said."
