Tempers flare during TBT match between rivals Kentucky and Louisville

No one is surprised that a battle between Kentucky and Louisville ended in drama. The longtime rivals faced off on the basketball court during the state basketball tournament when La Familia, a team of former Kentucky players, took on The Ville, a team made up of former Louisville players.

The result was not only the largest crowd in TBT history, with 13,506 in attendance at Freedom Hall, nearly double the previous record of 7,202, it was also marked by a post-match brawl thanks to a spitting incident between La Familia’s Nate Sestina and The Ville’s Chinanu Onuaku.

“Emotions were running high,” said Sestina, who confirmed to ESPN that Onuaku spat on her. “That’s what this game does to people. There was a lot of chatter throughout the game, nothing crazy, nothing personal. And then it got personal, obviously. That’s what this game is.”

The rivalry between these two Kentucky programs goes back long before anyone playing Monday was alive, and the fact that two alumni teams can still engage in it like this is proof of how deep-rooted that rivalry is.

Both teams have scattered a number of former college and NBA stars across their rosters, including Montrezl Harrell, Peyton Siva and Russ Smith for The Ville and Willie Cauley-Stein and Eric Bledsoe for La Familia.

The game itself was won by La Familia, 70-61, thanks to a game-winning three-pointer by Andrew Harrison, who was part of Kentucky’s back-to-back Final Four teams in 2014 and 2015.

Team Kentucky advances to the TBT quarterfinals, hoping to win a championship and the $1 million prize. They will face the winner of the Forever Coogs (Houston alumni) and Team Colorado (Colorado alumni) matchup at 9:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 30. The matchup will air on FS1.