UW Basketball | Players, coaches move beyond Caleb Forrest incident

A video of Washington State forward Caleb Forrest hitting Washington's Darnell Gant in the back of the head late in Saturday's game may be inciting a lot of invective among fans in chat rooms and on message boards.

But participants said Tuesday they consider it much ado about nothing and something they don't think will linger into a rematch between the teams March 7 in Seattle.

"It's just basketball," Gant said. "It's competitive. It's really no big deal."

Gant said Forrest apologized after the game and that "I don't hold grudges so I'm not upset or anything. That's just basketball."

Forrest hit Gant in the back of the head with 1:30 remaining in UW's 68-48 win in Pullman as each turned to head downcourt. Each was assessed a technical as the officials apparently noticed Gant retaliate with a shove and some words.

That Gant was also given a technical was the only part of the situation that appeared to upset Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar, who worried that it could have been costly in a tight game.

"I don't think the official saw what Caleb did," he said. "He couldn't have seen it. So all he saw was them jawing back and forth and that's a double technical."

Otherwise, Romar said he considered it a dead issue.

"Caleb Forrest is a good kid," Romar said. "He was not pleased [with his involvement in the incident]. But it's not only what you do but how you respond from it, and he has been very apologetic. That is not in his character in any way, and then he was immediately apologetic. When someone handles a situation like that, it's not what they normally do, it's not been a pattern, he shows remorse, then let's move on. That's how I see it. And I think Darnell Gant feels the same way."

WSU coach Tony Bennett said Forrest wouldn't be punished.

Bennett said Forrest "just lost his head" and said that he immediately talked to the senior forward and noted that Forrest then quickly apologized to Romar and Gant.

"There was some back and forth between Caleb and [Gant] and then Caleb lost his composure and then Caleb apologized immediately afterward to Gant and to Coach Romar after the game," Bennett said.

The Forrest-Gant incident was followed by a UW slam dunk when Justin Dentmon passed the ball off the backboard to a following Quincy Pondexter. All of that helped lead to some chippiness in the postgame handshake line with a few words being exchanged, though nothing that led to anything of note.

"It was just the heat of the game," Gant said. "He just got frustrated and had to find a way to take his aggressions out. It just happened to be that way.

Gant said he was not injured.

"I knew what happened. But like I was telling my teammates, it didn't feel the way it looked. It looked bad on film but it wasn't that big."

Turner still unlikely to play

Romar said guard Elston Turner is unlikely to play Thursday against Stanford and has only a better chance Saturday against California.

"I don't see him playing Thursday and he's probably doubtful for Saturday," Romar said.

Turner is ailing with a high ankle sprain suffered in a game against Morgan State Dec. 30.

Turner, however, said he is hopeful of playing this weekend but said he has yet to practice. He hoped to do some work in practice today to give it a test.

"Right now I'm just trying to get some strength back into my ankle and I've been working out trying to strengthen it for hopefully Thursday — that's my goal to try to play Thursday," he said. "If not, then Saturday.

"Other than that I feel fine. My ankle is getting better and getting better every day."

Turner was injured when a Morgan State player fell into him from behind in a scramble for a loose ball. He said it's the first sprained ankle he has ever suffered.

Turner said he had no issues with the play on which he was hurt, saying the Morgan State player "was just going for the ball and he tried to reach over me and grab me and just fell."