March Madness: Arkansas' Trevon Brazile hit with flagrant 1 to help spur St. John's run
March Madness: Arkansas' Trevon Brazile hit with flagrant 1 to help spur St. John's run
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Defending champs UConn vs No. 1 seed Florida leads Sunday slate
Mackenzie Salmon previews the best games during Sundays slate of games in the round of 32 including the defending champs UConn taking on Florida.
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A second-round NCAA Tournament game between St. John's and Arkansas that was widely billed as a meeting between coaching rivals Rick Pitino and John Calipari has been a physical contest between their respective players.
At one point, it even required a trip for the officials to the replay review monitor.
Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile was called for a flagrant 1 foul with 6:10 remaining in the first half after a physical confrontation with Red Storm big man Zuby Ejiofor while the two were boxing out for a rebound on a missed 3-pointer by St. John's.
REQUIRED READING: Rick Pitino and John Calipari aren't friends, but mutual March Madness respect is obvious
Originally ruled a common foul, the officials went to the monitor and, after a relatively brief review, the foul was upgraded to a flagrant 1. A flagrant 1 foul is one deemed to be 'excessive in nature' or involve 'unnecessary contact,' though the latter isn't based on the severity of the contact.
Trevon Brazile was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul for this illegal box out.#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/U6Dcmrzrja — TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 22, 2025
Ejiofor made one of his two free throws and added a dunk on the ensuing possession. The sequence proved to be consequential, as it was part of a 10-2 run in which the Red Storm turned an early eight-point deficit into a tie game.
It wasn't the first altercation between Brazile and Ejiofor, who had been jawing at each other a few minutes earlier.
CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore initially disagreed with the call, believing it to be a common foul, but after the flagrant ruling was issued, he noted that he changed his mind, having seen one of Brazile's arms making contact with Ejiofor's head and neck area.
Arkansas went into the half with a 35-32 lead over St. John's, the Big East regular-season and tournament champion.
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