Eastern Illinois basketball player takes swipe at fan sitting courtside, discipline to be handled ‘internally’

Eastern Illinois men’s basketball guard Kinyon Hodges raised eyebrows last week when he appeared to take a swipe at a fan sitting courtside during a game against Lindenwood.

The game took place Thursday at Lindenwood’s Hyland Arena. With about 2:30 left to play in the first half, the Panthers were in the middle of a play when Hodges went to the sideline and addressed two fans who were sitting in the very front row. Hodges then took a swipe at one of the fans.

The two men got up out of their chairs and pointed at Hodges as the player ran back onto the court. The play was stopped and Hodges was issued a technical foul. He was allowed to stay in the game.

The school said in a statement Friday that any discipline would be handled “internally.”

“We are aware of the incident that occurred during the first half of our men’s basketball game at Lindenwood,” Eastern Illinois athletic director Tom Michael said in a statement. “As an athletic department, Eastern Illinois prides itself on good sportsmanship. We do not condone this type of behavior by our men’s basketball team or any of our 500 student-athletes.

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“The issue has been addressed with both the player involved for EIU as well as the Ohio Valley Conference with any disciplinary action to be handled internally. The player in question understands that this is not the type of behavior displayed by our student-athletes or our men’s basketball program and in the heat of the moment let emotions get the best of him. This will be a learning moment moving forward and we apologize to anyone that may have been adversely impacted by the incident.”

Eastern Illinois coach Marty Simmons said Hodges was “extremely sorry” for his actions.

Hodges transferred to Eastern Illinois from Three Rivers College in Missouri. He is averaging 13.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He had two points in the 80-67 loss to Lindenwood.