Former College Star Restrained After Being Clearly Elbowed In The Face During Tournament Game
Eric Devendorf was a notorious trash-talker during his time at Syracuse. That has carried over to his play with alumni team "Boeheim's Army" in The Basketball Tournament, but today's blowup was justified.
Boeheim's Army played in the round of 16 of the $2 million winner-take-all tournament. The team faced "Armored Athlete," a team comprised of former college standouts from a few different schools, including Indiana and Ole Miss.
During a scrap for a loose ball in the first half, Devendorf went to the floor, and got tangled up with former Kansas State forward Dominique Sutton.
While on the ground, Sutton threw a clearly intentional elbow at Devendorf, smashing his head into the court pretty hard. Devendorf got up, and looked like he might get into it with Sutton, but was pulled away by teammate Demetris Nichols.
Sutton was assessed a flagrant one foul for the play.
Video from today's TBT dust-up with Eric Devendorf:
Boeheim's Army wound up winning the game 73-69, and heads to the round of eight. There, it will face a team of Marquette alumni, in what will be a bit of a Big East throwback.
After the game, Devendorf, who led the team with 19 points on 12 shots, got the honors of putting the team logo on the big bracket that is featured at every TBT site.
He was still clearly fired up. There's some salty language featured in the video.
After the game, he explained what happened, and gave Nichols credit for preventing things from escalating.
From The Post-Standard:
"Oh man, just being competitive," he said. "D (Nichols) put me in my place, though. My big brother talked to me. It's just a competitive game. That's just the type of guy I am. I don't even play any more. I'm a coach. But when I'm out there playing, emotions are high. I'm just a competitive dude. But I definitely need to get that under control a little bit."
Devendorf's playing career is more or less over, outside of his annual run as the heart of Boeheim's Army in TBT. He currently serves on Jim Boeheim's staff at Syracuse, as an assistant strength and conditioning coach.
