The University of Utah women’s basketball team had to switch hotels after facing multiple instances of 'racial hate crimes' while traveling for the NCAA March Madness tournament.
Following Utah's loss to Gonzaga in the tournament's second round on Monday, head coach Lynne Roberts revealed that the team encountered numerous distressing cases of racial hate during their stay in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, located around 30 miles from Spokane, where the tournament game took place.
“People have said, ‘I can’t believe that happened,’ she said. “But you know, racism is real and it occurs, and it’s terrible.”
“It was extremely distressing for our players and staff not to feel secure in the NCAA tournament setting, so we changed hotels,” Roberts later commented.
The basketball team, alongside members of the marching band and cheerleading squad, informed KSL.com that they gathered for dinner to commemorate their season.
A person in a white truck revved the engine and shouted the N-word at the team before driving away as they were having dinner, as reported by the outlet. Utah’s deputy athletics director Charmelle Greene expressed shock at the incident.
“We were all just in shock, and we looked at each other thinking, did we really hear that? Everyone was in shock, including our cheerleaders and the students in that area who clearly heard it were just frozen,” she recounted to KSL.com. “We continued walking, shaking our heads, unable to believe it.”
The incident recurred with additional vehicles after the team had finished their dinner, as per the outlet's report.
Roberts stated that the incidents of racial hate were a source of disruption for her team and were “disturbing and regrettable.”
“This should be a positive experience for everyone involved. This should be a celebratory time for our program, and to have a tarnished experience is regrettable,” she remarked.
Roberts mentioned that the NCAA and Gonzaga University collaborated to relocate the team to a new hotel following their first night in Coeur d’Alene.
According to The Associated Press, Gonzaga issued a statement emphasizing that safety is the foremost priority and expressing frustration and deep sadness over the compromised experience.
The Hill has contacted the NCAA for a statement.
