Kansas guard Zeke Mayo received hateful messages following the Jayhawks’ home loss to No. 10 Texas Tech on Saturday.
The Red Raiders beat Kansas 78-73 after Kansas botched two late possessions while down three. Mayo, a transfer from South Dakota State, had one of his worst games of the season. He was just 1-of-7 from the field for five points and had as many turnovers as he did points.
That performance led to some people deciding to send horrible messages to Mayo on Instagram. And he shared the stupidity after the game as he took responsibility for his performance. Two of the messages he shared wished death upon him and two others used a racial slur (viewer discretion advised).
Bad games happen. Any athlete will tell you that. And they are no excuse for hateful messages from fans or people who placed wagers. Yet Mayo’s experience on Saturday is not abnormal. Dealing with hateful messages on social media after losses and bad games is unfortunately becoming part of the athlete experience. Hopefully Mayo’s outing of the users is at least a small step toward curbing messages like these.
The senior is a native of Lawrence, Kansas, and transferred to his hometown school after three years with the Jackrabbits. He’s averaging 14 points per game for KU after he had over 18 a game a season ago at SDSU.
Saturday’s loss was Kansas’ third home loss of the season and the team’s eighth in Big 12 play. Kansas is now 19-10 overall and 10-8 in the conference with two games to go in the regular season. Texas Tech, meanwhile, is in third at 13-5 in the Big 12 after getting just its second win ever at Allen Fieldhouse.
