MORGANTOWN — According to West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons, the athletic department has “looked into” allegations of death threats toward a WVU men’s basketball player following the Mountaineers’ 75-72 loss against Syracuse on Sunday.
Hours after the second-round loss in the NCAA tournament, WVU senior guard Taz Sherman posted on his official Twitter account that he had received threats.
“Getting death threats and telling me you gonna kill me and my family is also not a part of sports,” Sherman tweeted.
Later, Sherman added, “Sadly, most of ‘em from West Virginia.”
Through a text message, Lyons said, “We have looked into the situation and have talked with our student-athletes. Any information beyond that, I cannot share.”
Sherman was the third-leading scorer for WVU this season, averaging 13.4 points per game. He has the option of returning for a second senior season in 2021-22, after the NCAA granted all college athletes an extra season of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sherman isn’t the only athlete from the NCAA tournament who has received such threats.
A day earlier, an ESPN report said that Ohio State had notified police after sophomore forward E.J. Liddell received threats of violence after the Buckeyes were upset in the first round by Oral Roberts.
Liddell responded to those threats with this tweet: “Honestly, what did I do to deserve this? I’m human.”
Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann released this statement for the report:
“These comments, while not from or representative of Ohio State fans, are vile, dangerous and reflect the worst of humanity,” Holtmann said. “E.J. is an outstanding young man who had a tremendous sophomore season and he was instrumental in our team’s success. We will take the necessary actions here at the University to address this immediately.”
Also on Sunday, Illinois forward Kofi Cockburn shared on Instagram a racist post that was meant for him after Illinois was upset by Loyola of Chicago in the second round.
The school confirmed it, too, was looking into the situation and had spoken to Cockburn.
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