Some major controversy has emerged about the Iowa Hawkeyes’ upcoming Men’s basketball game against the Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday.
Illinois’ student’s section, commonly referred to as the “Orange Krush” revealed on social media in a statement that 200 tickets that they purchased for the upcoming game against Iowa have been invalidated.
Their statement detailed that they purchased 200 tickets legally after collectively fundraising $2649.41 for local charitable organizations in order to be invited for this trip to go to the game.
However, the Iowa Hawkeyes posted a statement on social media about the situation which paints an entirely different picture.
“The Iowa Athletics Department became aware of a discounted group ticket order for the Iowa-Illinois Men’s Basketball Game on behalf of an Illinois Chapter of the Boys and Girls Club,” Iowa’s statement reads. “In following up with that organization, it became clear this was not factual. When contacting the individual who made the original ticket order, they admitted to falsely ordering tickets under the non-profit organization.”
“Iowa Athletics has refunded the original ticket order and donated tickets to the Boys and Girls Club of Cedar Rapids. We look forward to welcoming these kids to a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye arena this Saturday.”
This situation has garnered plenty of attention around the college basketball world, with differing opinions about how this should have been handled.
Some believe that Iowa’s Athletic Department made the right decision to deny these tickets to the Orange Krush given the way they supposedly went about getting the tickets.
Others believe that Iowa should not dictate who is purchasing tickets to their games.
https://twitter.com/craigwchoate/status/1620981983412363265
Regardless, it appears that there will be a very noticeable piece of Illinois’ fanbase that will not be in attendance for Saturday’s Big Ten matchup.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.