Indiana University athletic director Fred Glass apologized to his counterpart at Purdue following the behavior of student fans Tuesday night at Assembly Hall, then reprimanded the fans in an email.
IU students targeted Purdue center Matt Haarms with boos after he and Hoosier center De'Ron Davis became entangled midway through the first half, a play that led to both players being called for fouls.
Then, with 13:36 left in the game, Haarms was called for a technical foul. Thereafter, students shouted "F*ck you, Haarms!" every time the 7-foot-3 sophomore touched the ball. The chant could be heard on radio and television. “They were all over me. It was bad,” Haarms said, as reported by The Indianapolis Star. "It’s always bad. It’s bad at Michigan, at Michigan State, at Maryland, at Iowa, but not like this.”
From AB: Building and Maintaining Effective Student Sections
Glass thought it was bad enough to call Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski to apologize. The body of Glass's email to student season-ticket holders, sent Wednesday, reads:
"Thank you so much for attending last night's game against Purdue. Overall, you and your fellow student fans were awesome! You can early and stayed late, cheered hard, and, because you are the most knowledgeable fans in college basketball, you knew just when to take it up a notch to help our team try to get a key basket or a key stop.
"The profane chants directed at a specific Purdue player were not part of your positive contributions. They were embarrassing and unacceptable and reflected poorly on you and Indiana University. Knock off the profane chants, and please help those around you do the same. You and Indiana University are better than that.
"Again, thanks for your support an passion, and I hope you will come back and help us win our last three home games."
Alas, Indiana didn't win the game at hand, falling to the Boilermakers, 48-46. It was Haarms who tipped in the game-winning basket with 3.2 seconds to play.
