Sports

Arizona State’s Top Scorer Kicked Off Team For Poor Behavior After Headbutting Rival For No Reason

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BJ Freeman Arizona State Headbutt Behavior Ejection
© Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Arizona State will finish the 2024-25 college basketball season without leading scorer BJ Freeman. He was officially kicked off of the team for bad behavior after multiple ejections and a suspension.

One of the Flagrant 2 fouls was questionable, at best, but it sounds like Bobby Hurley could no longer risk another incident and made a difficult decision to better the culture of his program.

Freeman, a former unranked recruit, is a testament to the modern era of college basketball where the transfer portal is typically more important than traditional high school recruiting. Just ask Rick Pitino!

The 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard started his career at Dodge City Community College but he really burst onto the scene at Milwaukee in 2022-23. He averaged 21 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game last season and subsequently transferred to Arizona State. It proved to be a great success. Freeman led the Sun Devils in scoring this season with 13.7 points per game.

However, he played only 25 of 28 games due to various issues with “conduct detrimental to the team.” Hurley sat him out against Oklahoma. Freeman was also ejected twice.

One such ejection was egregious. The Sun Devils’ star guard picked up a Flagrant 2 foul at the beginning of February for headbutting in-state rival Caleb Love.

The other ejection was more controversial. He was assessed a Flagrant 2 at the beginning of January for what seemed to be defensive contact. It is hard to determine clear intent from how I see it. If that was worthy of an ejection, then Big Ten officials let Indiana off the hook for a groin kick over the weekend…

Nevertheless, BJ Freeman was ejected twice and suspended once. Arizona State head basketball coach Bobby Hurley decided it is time for the two parties to go their separate ways. He wishes him nothing but the best when he inevitably transfers to play one final season of college basketball elsewhere.

Arizona State will not make the NCAA Tournament without a miraculous run in the Big 12 Tournament. Although Freeman is gone, the Sun Devils actually snapped their six-game losing streak without him on Sunday. Maybe his departure is what they needed all along? Probably not… but maybe!