In light of the recent incident at a men’s basketball game between Arizona and BYU, Arizona’s athletic director, Desireé Reed-Francois, has taken responsibility and issued an apology to BYU. The apology comes after Wildcats fans were caught on video engaging in a derogatory chant towards the Cougars following BYU’s narrow 96-95 victory.

Reed-Francois expressed regret, stating, “Following tonight’s men’s basketball game, it was brought to our attention that an unacceptable chant occurred. On behalf of the University of Arizona Athletic Department, we apologize to BYU, their student-athletes, coaches, and fans. The chant is not reflective of who we are and should not have happened.”

The video showed Arizona fans chanting an offensive phrase along with the term ‘Mormons’ towards BYU as the players left the court. The incident occurred at the end of a tense game with controversial calls in the final moments that left Arizona supporters frustrated. One contentious call involved Wildcats guard Caleb Love not being deemed to be in the act of shooting when he made a crucial basket that could have resulted in an and-1 opportunity. Despite hitting both free throws to put Arizona ahead 95-94, BYU’s Richie Saunders drew a foul and sank two free throws to secure the win for his team.

Emotions ran high, with fans, players, and Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd expressing displeasure over the disputed calls. Lloyd acknowledged the frustration, stating, “It’s a bad call. I mean like, whatever. What am I going to say? You hate for a game to be decided by that.”

Arizona and BYU are unlikely to face each other again this season unless they meet in the Big 12 or NCAA tournaments. The teams split their two matchups this season, with the visiting team emerging victorious on both occasions.