Arizona apologized for fans’ derogatory chants directed at BYU after the Cougars upset the No. 19 Wildcats in a wild 96-95 win Saturday night.
Fans in the Arizona student section chanted an expletive and “the Mormons” as BYU players exited the court, per videos circulating on social media. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founded and supports BYU.
“Following tonight’s men’s basketball game, it was brought to our attention that an unacceptable chant occurred,” Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois said in a statement. “On behalf of the University of Arizona Athletic Department, we apologize to BYU, their student-athletes, coaches and fans. The chant is not reflective of who we are and should not have happened.”
The chant followed a controversial ending to the game when Arizona’s Caleb Love appeared to score and draw a foul with 12.5 seconds remaining, but officials ruled Love was not in the act of shooting when the foul happened. Love hit two free throws to give the Wildcats a 95-94 lead.
Then, officials called a foul on Arizona’s Trey Townsend while he was guarding BYU’s Richie Saunders along the free-throw lane. Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd disagreed with the call and fans at the McKale Center center booed loudly. With 3.2 seconds left, Saunders sank two free throws to give the Cougars a 96-95 lead that proved decisive.
BYU TAKES DOWN NO. 19 ARIZONA IN TUCSON‼️ pic.twitter.com/pCBPDO0NRR
— ESPN (@espn) February 23, 2025
Players from both teams had to be separated after the game and a team manager escorted Love off the court.
“It’s a bad call. I mean like, whatever. What am I going to say?” Lloyd told reporters. “You hate for a game to be decided by that.”
After the game, BYU associate athletic director for communications Jon McBride tweeted that players hear the derogatory chant “at a variety of BYU road games.” Additionally, McBride shared a statement that BYU athletics previously provided to the Salt Lake Tribune for a story about the chants.
“After these kinds of chants happen, we’re always thankful for an apology from a university leader or an athletic director, and we hope that productive conversations can happen on those campuses,” the statement said.
“We hope that opposing fan bases can understand that when they are disparaging The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and/or its members, they aren’t just disparaging BYU. There are members of their community, fans of their school and even coaches and student-athletes on their teams who are members of the very faith they are chanting about.”
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(Photo: Aryanna Frank / Imagn Images)
