Madison police said defeated Badger fans maintained composure when they took to the streets Saturday after the University of Wisconsin-Madison basketball team’s heartbreaking loss against Kentucky in a 74-73 game.
A few thousand fans gathered on State Street approximately 15 minutes after the game, as opposed to the swift rush of 8,000-10,000 fans eager to celebrate after last week’s victory over Arizona, according to Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain.
The tone of the evening lacked the same enthusiasm as the previous Badger game with more arrests and minor injuries, according to University of Wisconsin Police Department spokesperson Marc Lovicott.
DeSpain said Madison police made “a dozen” arrests that include a combination of citations and detentions.
Police attributed most arrests to fighting, starting fires and “body passing,” according to Lovicott.
DeSpain recalled one individual who climbed on top of a covered sidewalk near a construction site on State Street and lept into the crowd.
Some fans in the crowd sustained minor injuries as a result of flying beer cans and other causes. DeSpain said some fans were examined for head injuries and one fan was seen by emergency services for smashing their hand on glass while inside a bar.
UW-Madison freshman Story Sandy was rushed to the UW hospital with a head injury after being struck by a flying object in the crowd.
Sandy said he did not experience any bleeding or deformities as a result of the blow, but he did lose consciousness temporarily. Surrounding crowd members helped Sandy over to emergency medical technicians where they diagnosed him with a concussion.
Despite the incident, Sandy did not confirm that the crowd was too aggressive.
“People were behaving pretty well and it was calm, it just seemed to be a kind of unfortunate isolated incident,” Sandy said.
DeSpain and Lovicott both agreed the police were able to control the crowd sufficiently despite the few destructive fans.
“All of us are mostly Badger fans and we would’ve preferred a close win with more people on the street,” DeSpain said. “But it is what it is.”
