Kansas' Bill Self, Marquette's Shaka Smart exchange heated words after 'dust-up' when benches cleared

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Things got heated between the head coaches of Marquette and Kansas on Tuesday night during the No. 4 Golden Eagles’ 73-59 win over the No. 1 Jayhawks during the Maui Invitational semifinal. 

Marquette’s Shaka Smart and Kansas’s Bill Self were seen voicing frustrations with one another after a play cleared both benches. It all started when Kansas guard Kevin McCullar talked trash to Smart after hitting a three-pointer with 3:19 left to go in the first half. 

"Kevin McCullar is one of the best competitors I’ve coached against in a long time," Smart said after the game, per The Kansas City Star. 

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Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self calls to his players during the first half of the game against the Chaminade Silverswords on Day one of the Allstate Maui Invitational at SimpliFi Arena on Nov. 20, 2023 in Honolulu. (Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)

"He played at Texas Tech and he always has brought an edge that is different. He’s always enjoyed having a dialogue with me. He probably does that with all coaches. That kind of started the little dust-up. Their bench got involved. Our bench got involved. At the end of the day, it really had very little to do with the game."

The "dust-up" involved both benches coming on the court, with referees needing to get involved to break it up. However, there was an interesting exchange that came when Self and Smart were both speaking with officials by the scorer’s table. 

Self clearly did not like what Smart was saying, and that certainly was the case when he told his side of the story after the team’s loss. 

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