USU releases surveillance footage of tunnel incident

A screen grab of the surveillance video released by Utah State University following USU's 81-76 victory over Nevada. Nevada's Jordan Caroline (24) is seen running through coaches and staffers toward the USU locker room following the game on March 2, 2019.

On Monday, the Mountain West Conference, Utah State University and the University of Nevada all released statements about the incident in the Spectrum tunnel following USU’s take down of 12th ranked Nevada 81-76. Jordan Caroline was caught on video damaging a metal and glass box that housed a fire extinguisher and had to be restrained by his teammates and coaches.

In their statements, the Mountain West and Utah State essentially confirmed that postgame management was handled properly when students stormed the court. However, words that were said during the handshake line and allegedly some additional words in the tunnel lead to Caroline’s rage incident.

Monday night USU released surveillance video of what transpired in the tunnel, and it reveals that Nevada players and coaches had already arrived to their locker room before storming out. The following is a play-by-play of what transpired on the two video angles provided by USU. First, the video facing the USU locker room (see video below the following timeline, posted to Youtube by USUFans).

1:09 minute mark: Eric Musselman enters the hallway alone, ahead of other coaches and players.

1:55 minute mark: Caroline seen at the end of the hallway with his jersey over his face. Caroline is visibly emotional and upset following the loss. Caroline later doubles over and is inconsolable.

2:37 minute mark: A second Nevada staffer comes to console Caroline

3:38 minute mark: Caroline exits the frame.

3:46 minute mark: USU Director of Event Operations DJ Eckman (standing in an adjacent hallway) starts to come into the middle of the hallway as something is apparently said or yelled from the direction of the USU locker room.

3:52 minute mark: Nevada coaches and staff start heading toward the Aggie locker room then Caroline storms through. Coaches chase him down the hallway.

4:05 minute mark: Nevada players run out of their locker room, lead by Cody Martin, though Trey Porter tries to restrain them.

4:40 minute mark: Caroline is seen at the end of the hall again, punching the fire extinguisher box. Over the next couple of minutes Caroline is slowly pulled back to the Nevada locker room.

6:00 minute mark: Eric Musselman passively walks past Caroline toward the locker room as Caroline continues to be restrained by other coaches and players.

6:08 minute mark: Tre’Shawn Thurman punches a USU poster on the wall.

Another angle of the events, this time facing the Nevada locker room (see video below).

1:28 minute mark: Nevada head coach Eric Musselman is the first to enter the locker room.

2:09 minute mark: Tre’Shawn Thurman is the last Wolfpack player to enter the locker room besides Jordan Caroline.

3:25 minute mark: Jordan Caroline comes into frame.

3:43 minute mark: Nevada assistant coaches turn around and USU Director of Event Operations DJ Eckman (standing nearby) steps into the middle of the hallway, clearly in response to something said or yelled down the hall. Immediately after, coaches and then players start coming out of the Nevada locker room. Caroline storms past them and races down the hall. Players later pour out of the locker room, lead by Cody Martin.

5:05 minute mark: Nevada players are seen in frame heading back to their locker room.

5:59 minute mark: Eric Musselman passively walks through his players and back to the locker room.

6:08 minute mark: Thurman punches a poster of Old Main in the hallway.

The following video of the incident was captured Saturday evening by KUTV’s Jake Edmonds and quickly went viral. The video captures Caroline punching the fire extinguisher box and breaking the glass. It also captures claims from assistant coaches that fans were touching Nevada players and that a USU assistant was saying vulgarities in the handshake line.

WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE

“Inappropriate conduct by individuals from both programs in the postgame handshake line and subsequently in the locker room areas created the unfortunate circumstances,” the conference stated in their release Monday afternoon. The assertion was also confirmed by USU Director of Athletics John Hartwell.

“The unsportsmanlike behavior following the game did not include any of our student-athletes, but rather a couple of staff members, which is unacceptable, and we will handle those issues internally.”

Jordan Caroline has not been suspended by Nevada, and so far no punishments have been revealed by Utah State.

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