ACC suspends Louisville's Montrezl Harrell for a game after flagrant foul
Montrezl Harrell has been suspended for one game by the Atlantic Coast Conference for his flagrant foul in the University of Louisville basketball team's 76-67 win over Western Kentucky on Saturday.
Harrell will serve the suspension on Tuesday, when Louisville hosts Cal State-Northridge at 7 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center.
The 6-8 All-American forward was ejected in the first half of Saturday's game after he threw what appeared to be a retaliatory elbow at WKU guard Avery Patterson during a scuffle at midcourt.
A flagrant 2 foul doesn't automatically force a player to receive a one-game suspension, which is why Louisville did not believe Harrell would receive any more discipline for Saturday's incident. The NCAA rules, however, allow each conference to review incidents on a case-by-case basis and determine if a player from one of the league's member schools deserves further discipline.
The ACC made its announcement early Sunday evening and did not have any further comment.
"He deserved to be ejected," Cardinals coach Rick Pitino told Fox Sports 1 in his only post-game comments. "The officials made the right call."
Harrell, Louisville's leading scorer and rebounder, tallied 14 points and six rebounds before his ejection. He watched the remainder of the game from the locker room at WKU's E.A. Diddle Arena.
He apologized after the game, saying he'd made a bad "spur of the moment" decision.
"It was a human situation," Harrell said. "Everything took a turn for the worst, honestly. It's just bad that I overreacted in the heat of that moment. I just want to apologize to my teammates, the University of Louisville and apologize to my coaches.
Jeff Greer covers the Louisville Cardinals for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal.
