The Utah women’s basketball team changed hotels last Friday after experiencing what coach Lynne Roberts described as a series of ‘racial hate crimes’ ahead of its first-round NCAA tournament game.
Utah’s original team hotel was in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, more than 30 miles east of the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane. The NCAA and host school Gonzaga helped the Utes relocate to a Spokane hotel for the rest of their stay.
Roberts told reporters what happened on Monday night after the fifth-seeded Utes’ 77-66 second-round loss to fourth-seeded Gonzaga. The Utah coach described the incidents as “shocking” and said “no one knew how to handle it.”
“It was really upsetting,” Roberts said. “For our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it’s messed up, and so we moved hotels.”
While Roberts did not go into detail about what her team endured, Utah deputy athletics director Charmelle Greene shared specifics with KSL.com on Monday night. Greene said that while the basketball team was walking to a restaurant to have dinner, the driver of a white truck pulled up, revved his engine and yelled the N-word in the direction of the team before speeding off. “We all just were in shock, and we looked at each other like, did we just hear that?” Green told KSL.com
The team had dinner, only to face a similar situation as it left the restaurant. This time, Greene told KSL.com, the drivers of two trucks were revving their engine in an intimidating way, while again yelling the N-word in the direction of the team.
Gonzaga condemned the incidents on Monday night, saying that the first priority is the safety and welfare of participants in the NCAA tournament. “We are frustrated and deeply saddened to know what should always be an amazing visitor and championship experience was in any way compromised by this situation,” Gonzaga’s statement said.
The Utah women’s team originally booked a Coeur d’Alene hotel because hotel space in Spokane was limited. Spokane was a predetermined host site for the first and second round of the men’s NCAA tournament, which meant that hotel rooms for those eight teams were blocked off well in advance.
Some of those room blocks opened last Friday when the first men’s teams in Spokane were eliminated. A source familiar with the situation told Yahoo Sports that Gonzaga and the NCAA scrambled to hold those room blocks and offered them to Utah and to the other women’s team staying in Idaho. Gonzaga had previously arranged for police escorts, the source added, to ensure that Utah’s drive time from Coeur d’Alene to the arena in Spokane did not exceed the maximum allowable time of 30 minutes. The police escorts continued after Utah moved to a Spokane hotel, according to the source.
Roberts told reporters that what her team endured made it difficult for Utah players to focus on their games against South Dakota State and Gonzaga. “It was a distraction and upsetting and unfortunate,” she said.