If you’re looking for the strangest story of the college basketball season, look no further than Nevada.
In what’s an absolutely hysterical and deeply unfortunate development for the Wolf Pack, the men’s team saw a stoppage in play in its home opener against Sacramento State on Tuesday night because, go with us here, a colony of bats descended from the Lawlor Events Center rafters onto the court.
Yes, seriously, the game had to stop momentarily because a bunch of bats started flying around the stadium like it was Bruce Wayne’s Batcave. It’s really something you have to see for yourself.
We've entered a bat delay at Lawlor! 🦇 pic.twitter.com/qR8RQbT748
— Nevada Sports Net (@NevadaSportsNet) November 8, 2023
Holy basketball, Batman! Outside of causing a delay in play, the bat fiasco led to one of the funniest rants in a postgame press conference you’re ever going to hear from Nevada men’s coach Steve Alford.
You know things are going to be good when someone starts a response by saying, “The bat thing is getting pretty embarrassing.”
“We are a big time basketball program. We shouldn’t be dealing with bats.” pic.twitter.com/ll8P5PDUwb
— Mid-Major Madness (@mid_madness) November 8, 2023
We get why this situation is driving Alford absolutely … batty.
Apparently, Nevada’s Lawlor Events Center has dealt with the winged guests before, per CBS Sports’ Cameron Salerno.
In 2017, several bats took over the arena and the Nevada Department of Wildlife confirmed at the time there could be up to 30 bats living inside the arena.
Yikes. Until the arena officials can figure out an ethical way to clear the bats out of the stadium, it sounds like they could still be flying around at the worst-possible moments for Nevada’s basketball teams this season.
Our solution? Either ask if Batman and Robin can come sort out their pals or see if Dwight Schrute is available.
