Answering the call from Norfolk State coach Robert Jones on Monday night, it’s clear he wants to talk about his team’s impressive play, and for good reason: The Spartans are 7-3, including the last three wins over teams repping the respectable Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley and Colonial Athletic Association conferences, and are now ranked 19th in the latest mid-major Top 25 rankings (they were at No. 63 two weeks ago).
“I want people to cover us because we win games, raise championship banners and we are one of the best mid-major teams in the country,” said Jones, who has led the team to two NCAA tournaments over the last three years. “I just want us to have that same type of attention that we got from the Illinois State game.”
Yet as Norfolk State, a historically Black university, takes its three-game winning streak on the road Wednesday night at Stony Brook, the spotlight has not been on the solid basketball, but on the tempers that flared after three fans were ejected from the Dec. 9 game with Illinois State after allegedly directing racial slurs at Norfolk State junior guard Jamarii Thomas.
The widely watched video of the incident has attracted more than 7 million views on X, formerly known as Twitter, and featured a heated exchange between Jones and Illinois State coach Ryan Pedon.
Jones said after he was told what was said, to protect his players, he stepped on the floor and briefly took several steps towards the fans. Pedon stepped toward midcourt, apparently upset that Jones wasn’t given a technical foul.
Three fans were eventually ejected from their front-row seats, and Pedon said during his news conference, “It was probably a misunderstanding. It was two coaches being passionate about the game and their teams. It was never personal towards him. I’ll leave it at that. I’m a competitor. I’m Italian, and sometimes my emotions get the best of me.”
Jones didn’t appreciate what he described as a non-apology apology.
“I’m a little disappointed Illinois State didn’t address the racial slur a bit more,” Jones said Monday. Jones added that he would never speak with Pedon again or schedule a game at Illinois State in the future. “It was addressed that the coach overreacted to what I was trying to tell him. But no one has said that, on behalf of Illinois State or the Illinois State alumni, we apologize.”
Pedon, perhaps sensing the backlash to what he didn’t say on Saturday, issued a statement on Sunday:
Jones said he noticed the call on his phone during a layover in Chicago on Sunday morning, but didn’t answer.
“For me, you had opportunities to make it right in person,” Jones said. “Don’t make it right now when 6 million people have seen the video.”
Attempts by Andscape to reach Pedon for comment were unsuccessful.
Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
This is Jones’ 17th season at Norfolk State (he started as an assistant in 2007 before being named head coach in 2014), and while it would be easy to assume that coaching at an HBCU would make the team a target for racial slurs, he said that’s not been the case.
“I think I’ve coached close to 350 games,” Jones said. “And it’s probably only happened two or three times. In theory, that’s a very low percentage.”
What Jones won’t tolerate is fans who feel comfortable surrounded by thousands — and maybe feel protected by the presence of hundreds of officers and security — to come to a game and direct slurs at him or his players.
“Those guys had beers in their hands, maybe they had one too many and it was their truth serum,” Jones said during a news conference at the school. “Fans think they can say whatever they want to say. They think we’re not people …We’re people and we have different triggers as well.
“I think a lot of times fans think that they paid their $20, $30, $40 [for a ticket] and they think they can say anything. Your $20 is not worth dehumanizing me.”
Jones hopes he can put the incident behind him and focus on the solid basketball being played by a team of eight newcomers. Norfolk State has played committed defense (ranked 11th in the nation with 17.2 forced turnovers per game) while being led offensively by Thomas, the transfer from UNC Wilmington who goes into the Stony Brook game averaging 19.2 points.
“He averaged [7.1 points] in limited minutes last year, so we’ve been able to unleash some of his ability,” Jones said. “Just like I have a chip on my shoulder as a coach because I think I’m underrated, he has that same chip because he feels like he’s better than what people have given him credit for.”
The games in Long Island this week at Stony Brook and Hofstra (Saturday) serve as a bit of a homecoming for Jones, who grew up in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York.
“This is the first time we’ve played some New York games in a long time, so it’s going to be great,” Jones said. “I can probably fill our entire ticket list myself.”
More than anything, Jones is looking forward to the focus being on his team.
“So far we’ve had a pretty good season, but our focus has to be on these next games,” Jones said. “There’s been a lot of attention, but we just want to be known for what we do on the court.”
