Utah coach says team was shaken after experiencing racist hate during NCAA Tournament

By Tim Booth | The Associated Press Utah head coach Lynne Roberts speaks during a press conference after a second-round college basketball game against Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament in Spokane, Wash., Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Young Kwak) SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Utah coach Lynne Roberts said her team experienced a series of “racial hate crimes” after arriving at its first NCAA Tournament hotel and was forced to change accommodations during the event for safety concerns. Roberts revealed what happened after Utah lost to Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAAs on Monday night. Roberts didn’t go into detail but said there were several incidents that happened Thursday night after the team arrived in the Spokane, Washington, area for the tournament and they were disturbing to the traveling party to the point there were concerns about safety. Utah was staying about 30 miles away in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and was relocated to a different hotel on Friday. “We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes toward our program and (it was) incredibly upsetting for all of us,” Roberts said. “In our world, in athletics and in university settings, it’s shocking. There’s so much diversity on...