In George Mason’s most recent contest against James Madison, tensions flared after a pair of double technicals were handed out at the 12:21 mark of the second half to Mason’s Justin Kier and Madison’s Stuckey Mosley.
This upset Duke’s head coach, Louis Rowe, so much that he started jarring with Mason’s head coach Dave Paulsen.
WE’VE GOT COACHES BARKING AT EACH OTHER
— By George. (@ByGeorgeGMU) December 8, 2018
Most notably saying this:
Not sure what the hell happened but JMU coach was yelling “COME SEE ME!” directly at Dave Paulsen after the double technical
— By George. (@ByGeorgeGMU) December 8, 2018
It was only a minute later at the 11:20 mark that Rowe was given a technical foul.
JMU coach Louis Rowe t’d up. Probably said the magic words. He’s still chirping at Dave Paulsen.
— By George. (@ByGeorgeGMU) December 8, 2018
After the Dukes’ Matt Lewis was fouled hard under the basket by AJ Wilson, Lewis took exception to the foul and turned into a pushing match. Lewis was then T’d up with 20 seconds left, making it James Madison’s third of the game.
However, this game was far from over.
Here’s the video from broadcast pic.twitter.com/4T7RwHW1al
— JMU Sports Newsletter (@JMUSportsNews) December 8, 2018
Now some people have said that Rowe reluctantly shook hands with Paulsen. But, I think it goes further, Rowe refused to shake hands with Paulsen, and as you can see in the video, Paulsen basically just grabs Rowe’s hand to shake it.
This is what Petey saw:
From my vantage point, Dave went to shake Rowe’s hand and make amends at the end of the game. Rowe very intentionally withheld it the entire time and continued jawing at coaches down the handshake line.
— Petey Buckets (@peteybuckets) December 8, 2018
That’s right, there’s been bottlegate, spygate, deflategate, but we have:
HANDSHAKE GATE
— By George. (@ByGeorgeGMU) December 8, 2018
In the post-game press conference, Paulsen stated that it was just “the heat of the moment” and there was not too much into it.
However, Rowe’s press conference was much different.
Check it out here if you haven’t already:
GMU vs. JMU Post-Game LIVE: HC Rowe https://t.co/q5c22yPTps
— GMU Giant Killer (@GMUGiantKiller) December 8, 2018
He seemed pretty remorseful about the whole situation, saying he didn’t represent the university well.
However, I noticed something during the press conference that our friend Daniel Frank also noticed.
Well, that might be the most interesting postgame interview. Danced around with his words a lot. Said no disrespect the Mason players, assistants or the the university…very noticeably left Dave Paulsen out all together. I smell BEEF boys and girls!!! https://t.co/U35dOsje9o
— Daniel Frank (@n1a2v3y4) December 8, 2018
I wonder what Paulsen and Rowe were saying in the handshake line and also what Mason assistant coach Duane Simpkins and Rowe talked about.
Who knows, but I do know one thing.
The Rivalry is on.
