Arizona State men's basketball coach Bobby Hurley took a lot of heat for not shaking Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd's hand at the end of The Sun Devils' 81-72 loss to the Wildcats on Feb. 1.
Focused more on getting his team off the court after the chippy game instead of end-of-game pleasantries with Lloyd, Hurley trusted his instincts in trying to deescalate the situation.
Lloyd, while talking with Arizona Sports' Bickley & Marotta during Day 3 of Newsmakers Week, agreed with Hurley's decision in the heat of the moment.
"We've never been anything but good," Lloyd said of his relationship with Hurley. "That rivalry is kind of an external thing for a lot of people. For me, I'm going to be honest with you, I know the game has a little extra meaning, but we don't put a ton of extra stock in it. Because you win or lose against Arizona State, two days later you've got a game. In basketball, you got to keep it moving. Bobby called me the next day and was awesome on the phone. I appreciate his friendship and we've never had a problem.
"Things happen in the moment. To be honest with you, we don't need to rehash anything, but I thought he made a great decision just taking his players off the court in that moment when things were getting chippy on both sides. He and I would be fine no matter what, but if something happened between our programs on the floor with a player losing his mind, I don't think it would be a good look for either institution or the state of Arizona. I got no problem, no beef and to be honest with you, I hadn't even thought about it for one second until you just brought it up."
Since the rivalry game, the two programs have gone in opposite directions record-wise.
Including the Wildcats loss, ASU (12-14) is currently riding a six-game losing streak and is second-to-last in the Big 12. Arizona (12-3) on the other hand is 4-2 and sits behind only Houston for the top spot in the conference.
Regardless of record or conference standing, though, a whole lot of eyes are going to be on the March 3 rematch -- a penultimate regular season tilt -- between the two sides.