Tyree Graham defends former Rutgers Coach Mike Rice: "He was just trying to motivate you"

On a day which saw Rutgers University fire basketball coach Mike Rice following the emergence of damning video, on Wednesday night "Piers Morgan Live" welcomed Tyree Graham to share his unique first-hand perspective.

A former Scarlet Knight who graduated in 2012, Graham suffered a pair of injuries during his two years at Rutgers, and never suited up for an actual game. However, he was a part of the team during his time in Piscataway, and though he doesn't deny Rice's inflammatory behavior, he says there's more to the man seen on the tape:

“If you were in the gym at the time and really around Coach Rice and knew Coach Rice as a person like I know him as, you would understand that he was just probably saying something that day that you were just lagging, that he was just trying to motivate you,” defended Graham.

"We all have different ways of motivation, you know, or motivating others and that was one of his ways to try and motivate players."

Watch the clip, and listen to the interview, as Graham shares further specifics of the two years he spent as part of the Mike Rice-led Rutgers program.
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