Reports: UGA suspends assistant basketball coach for incident during Wednesday night loss

ATHENS, Ga. — Multiple reports say the University of Georgia has suspended men’s basketball assistant coach Wade Mason for an incident during halftime of Wednesday night’s game against LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The Bulldogs, who have struggled for even a small amount of success all season long, lost Wednesday night’s game to the Bayou Bengals 85-64, dropping their record to 6-20 on the season and 1-12 in the SEC.

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According to a Friday night report from our partners at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mason got into a dispute with director of player personnel Brian Fish at halftime of Wednesday’s game. The report said there was some sort of physical altercation between the two men that had to be broken up.

Mason returned to his spot on the bench to assist head coach Tom Crean at the beginning of the second half.

On Saturday morning, the university’s Athletic Association issued a tersely worded statement about the incident and reports about what happened:

“There have been various media reports related to UGA Athletics personnel ranging from completely inaccurate to incomplete and premature. The incident in question was reported properly as required by university policies and is under review. We will comment if and when appropriate.”

Included in the statement was a published report on a fan page claiming that the school would use the incident as a reason to fire Crean without cause. The school vehemently denied the report.

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Late on Saturday morning, ESPN and the AJC both reported that Mason has been suspended from the team with pay pending the outcome of an investigation. The Bulldogs play Ole Miss Saturday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum and are trying to halt a six-game losing streak.

After Saturday afternoon’s game, the Bulldogs will have four games left in the regular season, which ends on March 5.

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and ESPN contributed to this report

Spring training games canceled through March 4 (NCD)

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