College Basketball Coach Wanders Off After Refusing To Shake Hands Due To Illness After Loss

Yale used a dominant second half to defeat Columbia on Monday night. The Bulldogs, who moved to 11-6 with the win, allowed the Lions to stay in the college basketball game early.

They went into the locker room at halftime with a two-point lead. That gap quickly widened as the second 20 minutes of play got underway.

Yale shot 51.5% from the field and 4.9% from beyond the arc and defeated Columbia by 19. Star guard John Poulakidas led the way with 26 points on seven triples while 7-foot sophomore Danny Wolf pulled down 15 boards.

Strong start to the second half. John Poulakidas nails his fourth 3⃣ of the night

| (@ESPNPlus) – https://t.co/DTo9qCK9Zq#ThisIsYale pic.twitter.com/9T0kPXEtta

— Yale Men's Basketball (@YaleMBasketball)

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It was the Bulldogs’ defense that ultimately led the way with a suffocating second half. They held the Lions to 27.59% shooting down the stretch and scored 11 points off of turnovers.

Despite the disappointing finish for the visitors, they held their heads high during the handshake line. And then a bizarre scene proceeded to unfold.

Columbia head coach Jim Engles would not shake the hand of Yale head coach James Jones. He said that he was not feeling well and did not want to spread his illness any further, which is completely fair.

And then he wandered off.

Columbia HC Jim Engles refuses to shake hands with Yale HC James Jones, "I am not feeling well."

Engles eventually walks off the court solo in an unusual ending.

Yale wins 89-70. A second half demolition. #IvyLeague pic.twitter.com/1IasnuiAV4

— Rocco Miller (@RoccoMiller8)

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UPDATE: After discussing the scenario with Steve Merrill, the Assistant Director for Athletics Communications at Columbia, Engles was truly unwell. He was very sick and tried power through for his team while drinking several Gatorades throughout the game.

However, if Jones was not well enough for a postgame handshake, why did he coach the game? Why was he around the players? Why was he around his assistant coaches?

Did he start to feel even worse after his team allowed a 17-point deficit during the second half and use it as an excuse to pull a petty handshake snub? Merrill says no.

That is not Engles’ character.

But it got even weirder when Engles walked off of the court by himself. He did not leave the floor with his team. He did not wait around to follow his players back into the locker room.

The seven-year head coach just… wandered off alone.

Engles did not speak to his health after the loss and the Lions staff was not proactive in addressing what happened after the game concluded. The entire discussion about a handshake snub could have been avoided if the university had released some sort of update on Engles’ health, especially after Rocco Miller’s initial post on X.

People in the gym were baffled by what played out, so it’s not like it went unnoticed. Even though the head coach was actually ill and didn’t want to get others sick — it was a weird scene!

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