A series of vile jokes about the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk surfaced online following a hotly contested college basketball game in Paradise, Nevada.
Utah Valley, the school where Kirk was fatally shot while speaking with students last year, missed a potential game-tying dunk against Cal Baptist in the final seconds of Saturday’s Western Athletic Conference (WAC) tournament championship.
The win would have given Utah Valley an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament – the first in program history.
Instead, the dramatic loss was further tarnished by online trolls, who saw an opportunity to poke fun at the September shooting.
In response to a highlight of the game’s final seconds, one X user joked that Isaac Davis’ missed dunk was the ‘[worst thing to happen in the history of Utah Valley.’
Others made similarly tasteless jokes.
Utah Valley’s Isaac Davis missed a last-second alley-oop that would have tied the game
Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley on September 10 shortly before he was shot to death
‘I thought nobody missed at Utah Valley University,’ read one comment.
‘[California] liberals shooting in [Utah Valley University] once again,’ another troll added.
One person joked the missed dunk was ‘the worst shot in the history of Utah Valley University.’
‘It’s a shame,’ another wrote, ‘until today [Utah Valley] was synonymous with good shooting.’
Kirk was shot and killed while speaking to Utah Valley students in September. Tyler James Robinson was later arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder and other felony offenses.
Dominique Daniels Jr. hit three 3-pointers in the final two minutes and finished with 23 points on Saturday night to help No. 2 seed Cal Baptist clinch the 63-61 win.
Cal Baptist (25-8), which began the transition from Division II in 2018 and became eligible for the postseason in the 2022-23 season, extended its program record (D-I era) for single-season wins. The Lancers have won six games in a row.
Utah Valley (25-8), which has won back-to-back conference regular-season titles and four of the last six, had its seven-game win streak snapped.
Daniels, who finished 7-of-25 shooting, hit back-to-back 3s that tied it 60-all with 1:16 to play. Jackson Holcombe grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled and made 1-of-2 free throws with 39 seconds left, but Daniels hit a pull-up 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down that gave Cal Baptist a two-point lead with 14.6 seconds remaining.
Dominique Daniels Jr. (handling the ball) hit three 3-pointers in the final two minutes and finished with 23 points on Saturday night to help No. 2 seed Cal Baptist clinch the 63-61 win
Holcombe led the Wolverines with 18 points and Davis scored 12. Trevan Leonhardt had 10 rebounds and eight assists to go with six points while consistently harassing Daniels defensively.
Bradey Henige had 11 points for the Lancers and Jonathan Griman had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting before he fouled out with about 5 1/2 minutes left.
Utah Valley won the season series, 2-1, with both wins coming on its home floor. Daniels had a program-record 47 points in Cal Baptist’s 78-71 home win over the Wolverines on Jan. 24.
Both programs are joining the Big West Conference beginning next season, when the WAC will rebrand as the United Athletic Conference.
While Cal Baptist awaits its seeding and first-round opponent for the NCAA Tournament, Utah Valley has clinched an automatic invite to the NIT.
