JMU Coach Louis Rowe Wouldn’t Shake Dave Paulsen’s Hand After Loss

After a back-and-forth battle between rivals James Madison (7-5) and George Mason (5-6), which Mason won 66-53, Louis Rowe — head coach of James Madison — refused to shake the hand of George Mason head coach Dave Paulsen. Rowe eventually relented and reluctantly shook hands. Here’s everything you need to know.

Going into the James Madison-George Mason game, everyone close to the program knew it was going to be the most contentious game of the season. Well, after 40 minutes that included several lead changes and technical fouls, it proved to be as contentious as anticipated.

The Patriots wound up winning the game 66-53, led (as usual) by their one-two punch of Otis Livingston II (21 points) and Justin Kier (16 points). And while the scoring leaders were normal for George Mason, the postgame handshake was anything but normal.

James Madison head coach Louis Rowe, who was chirping at Dave Paulsen earlier in the game, refused to shake Paulsen’s hand following the game. He reluctantly did, however, then vented his frustrations to a Mason assistant coach.

Check the situation out below:

Our friends at By George and Giant Killer are following “Handshake Gate” intently and posted Rowe’s postgame press conference.

Just some heat-of-the-moment stuff, I suppose, but Rowe did note that he “wasn’t over the line” in his actions. Either way, the whole rigamarole makes this much-needed rivalry better (and it gives us media folk something to chew on for the next two weeks before Mason plays again.) Follow George Mason Twitter over the next hour and I’m sure Paulsen’s thoughts will surface.

Back in the day, it should be noted, James Madison and George Mason used to play twice a year in the CAA. Now, however, it’s not quite as frequent though Mason has won 22 of their last 24 meetings. 

GMU improved to 5-6 on the year. Their next game will be against another local program (Navy) on December 21st at Eagle Bank Arena.