Louisville, Kentucky rivalry results in spitting, TBT tussle - ESPN

In basketball, if Louisville and Kentucky are on the court, drama will likely ensue.

That held true Monday night, when a game at The Basketball Tournament between La Familia, a team comprised of former Kentucky players, and The Ville, a team featuring former Louisville players, ended with a near-brawl following a spitting incident.

Andrew Harrison, who helped lead Kentucky to the 2014 and 2015 Final Four, hit the game-winning 3-pointer in La Familia's 70-61 victory (Elam ending) at Freedom Hall in Louisville. The crowd of 13,506 nearly doubled the previous record (7,202) for the winner-take-all $1 million tournament.

During the celebration, La Familia's Nate Sestina, who led all scorers with 22 points, embraced The Ville's Chinanu Onuaku, who told Sestina to stop using the «L's down» gesture to mock Louisville.

Onuaku, per video of the incident, told Sestina, «Don't do that again,» before he spat in his face.

«Emotions ran high,» said Sestina, who confirmed that Onuaku had spat at him. «That's what this game does to people. It had been great chatter the whole game, nothing crazy, nothing personal. And then it got personal, obviously. That's what this game is.»

Players from both teams then began pushing and shoving one another as security officials and police officers stepped between them to prevent further escalation.

It was just the latest dustup in the rivalry.

Former Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton once called Louisville «little brother» during an interview. In 1989, Louisville's Boo Brewer caught Kentucky's Sean Woods underneath the basket and tossed him over his shoulder. And during the 2015-16 season, Rick Pitino, who has won national titles at both schools, was coaching the Cardinals at Rupp Arena when he was accused