Kansas State unimpressed that Kentucky didn't shake hands with players
The "Battle of the Wildcats" went down to the wire Thursday night in Atlanta, with the 'Cats from Kansas State taking down Kentucky in a tightly contested affair that remained intriguing even after it ended.
K-State was not impressed with the postgame behavior of coach John Calipari and his team, as Kentucky left the court following the final buzzer without stopping to shake hands with opposing players.
"They didn't shake our hands," Kansas State guard Amaad Wainright said, according to Alex Scarborough of ESPN.
"It's sorry. ... They know what they did. ... On that situation, it's all about respect. That's what it should have been - all about respect."
Calipari indicated neither he nor his players intended any disrespect, and said he actually attempted to go over to shake hands, but didn't want to interrupt K-State's celebration.
"They were turned and celebrating, so I walked off," Calipari explained. "There was no disrespect for anything. It's just that they were celebrating, and I was happy for them. My team's not like that. There's no disrespect in any way. They beat us. They deserved to win the game."
Kentucky deputy director of athletics DeWayne Peevy took to Twitter to defend his program, asserting his players did shake hands with K-State staff.
There were several false reports last night that our players didn’t shake hands after the game. Our student-athletes did shake hands with the K-State staff while the team was celebrating. Good luck to @KStateMBB and @RamblersMBB in the Elite Eight. pic.twitter.com/lvo8tQjcME
— DeWayne Peevy (@UKDeWaynePeevy) March 23, 2018
Whatever the case, the team is going home while Kansas State advances to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010.