Hess strode toward Padgett during a timeout late in Samford’s Southern Conference loss at East Tennessee State. Padgett, who played eight seasons in the NBA, was ready.
“I literally said, ‘Are you stepping to me right now?’” Padgett told reporters after the game.
Padgett wasn’t worried about Hess taking things too far, given the size mismatch.
“If we’re on the street, he’s running the other way just if he sees me walking by,” Padgett said. “I’m 6-9, probably 280 (pounds) right now. Not a lot of people step to me.”
FLASHBACK: Ted Valentine turns back on UNC’s Joel Berry II
Mark Zanetto of South Carolina Sports Monthly reported that Padgett gestured toward Southern Conference commissioner John Iamarino after the confrontation and said, “Do your job.”
Neither Hess nor Iamarino had commented publicly as of early Friday.
