A college basketball player was socked in the face by a vicious punch during a dispute in a game on Thursday night ... and the wild skirmish was all captured on video.
It happened at the Ford Center in Indiana ... when Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and UT-Martin were squaring off in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
In the broadcast video of the game, you can see UT Martin big man Rifen Miguel rushed into the paint in an apparent attempt to grab a rebound late in the first half of the contest ... but slammed into the back of SIUE forward DeeJuan Pruitt in the process.
Here is everything that happened that led up to DeeJuan Pruitt throwing one of the worst sucker punches that you'll ever see in SIU-Edwardsville vs. UT Martin. Hopefully Rifen Miguel is ok. pic.twitter.com/I0l4QfXSMi
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 3, 2023
Pruitt clearly didn't like the contact, and immediately raced to get into Miguel's face to let him know about it.
Miguel then leaned on Pruitt as he made his way back down the court -- when, suddenly, Pruitt rocked him in his jaw with a huge right hand.
Miguel turned to go after Pruitt ... but both benches cleared, and players, coaches and officials intervened before things escalated further.
Miguel was noticeably shaken up after the altercation ... needing to be held up by his teammates.
Both dudes, meanwhile, were eventually ejected from the contest.
In the end, Miguel got the last laugh ... as UT Martin defeated SIUE, 81-75.