A 23-year-old Missouri graduate was arrested on suspicion of burglary and property damage this weekend after he drove his Volkswagen Passat into Mizzou Arena and onto the basketball court, according to MUPD spokesman Brian Weimer.
The man has been identified as Nathaniel Conant, who is listed as an events assistant for the SEC Network in the Mizzou student directory. He turned himself in 12 hours after the incident. Police believe he did an estimated $100,000 worth of damage.
"Nothing happened to the court," Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin told CBS Sports on Monday. "There's really no damage [to the court]. It's more like a couple of gates and a garage door [that got damaged]. But nothing happened to the floor."
Exactly why Conant allegedly decided to go on an illegal joyride inside an SEC basketball arena remains unclear. (But it doesn't sound like the type of thing a sober person would do, does it?) Either way, like Martin said, this should have no effect on the freshmen season of Michael Porter Jr., who is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. But it's still a less-than-ideal development for a university that is losing students, and thus money, in significant numbers.
Here's one gate Conant allegedly drove through:
If you ever wanted to know what Mizzou Arena press gate looked like after a Passat drives through it ... pic.twitter.com/GfxQYNBSOl
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) June 26, 2017