OKLAHOMA CITY — Houston Rockets star center Alperen Sengun expressed remorse for repeatedly calling a female referee “a b—-” earlier this week, saying that he apologized immediately after the game.
The incident, which resulted in Sengun’s ejection in Wednesday’s 114-93 loss to the Boston Celtics, went viral online in the following days, with enhanced audio making his insult to Jenna Reneau clear.
“That was immature by me,” Sengun said, addressing the incident publicly for the first time after the Rockets’ 112-106 road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. “That was just in the moment, and I said some stuff I shouldn’t say, but I felt bad about it.”
Sengun was ejected after protesting a non-call on his drive to the basket midway through the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics. Houston trailed by 25 points at the time, and Sengun acknowledged that he took out his frustrations on Reneau, who is in her first season as an NBA staff official.
Sengun, who had his second triple-double of the season Saturday with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the win over the Thunder, said he went to the officials’ locker room immediately after the loss Wednesday to apologize to Reneau.
“Sometimes, you can’t control yourself, but I should have known better,” Sengun said. “But I fixed it, and then I went to the locker room and I apologized. I shake [her] hand and said that would never happen again. It just happened in the heat of the moment. Then, she understood, and it was good on both ends.”
