Tennessee basketball: Kansas brawls with KSU ahead of Jayhawks matchup with Vols

The Kansas State Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks got into a brawl that could affect Tennessee basketball. KU faces the Volunteers next.

Could Tennessee basketball benefit from a few suspensions when they face the No. 3 ranked team in the nation Saturday in the SEC vs. Big 12 challenge? A brawl that broke out in a Tuesday night may provide some clues.

The Kansas Jayhawks and Kansas State Wildcats got into a huge fight as time expired in Kansas’s 81-59 win over their in-state rival at home. Silvio De Sousa of Kansas blocked a layup attempt by DaJuan Gordon and appeared to stand over him.

At that point, benches cleared, and everybody got to fighting on the baseline. It lasted for around a minute and appeared to involve lots of non-players as well. Here’s an overall look at the video, provided by ESPN.

As you can see, it’s unclear just how bad things got and who was at fault. But one thing that is certain is the fact that De Sousa, who had no points in the game, was involved. And that is at least one way Kansas is negatively affected and Tennessee basketball is positively affected. De Sousa even grabbed a chair and appeared as if he was attempting to strike a player with it.

Now, if I’m being honest looking at this video in full, it seems like the rest of the Kansas players are trying to diffuse the situation, even if they shouldn’t have cleared the bench. De Sousa is not a big loss for Kansas, as he doesn’t start, had no points in this game and averages just under three points and three rebounds a game.

So if Tennessee basketball is going to get a big advantage in some way, there would have to be other players beyond De Sousa being punished. Unless the NCAA or Big 12 takes action against them for clearing the bench or getting physical with opponents in self-defense, I don’t see that happening. We’ll have to wait and see just how bad it got.