Defensive player grabbing the net to pull himself up

[rhodyref401]

I was reffing a rec league game tonight and one of the defensive players grabbed the net to pull himself up for no apparent reason, ball was not on the rim nor did he hang on the rim. His team was getting it handed to them
pretty bad so it was more out of frustration. I hit him with a T but I was a little unsure if the hanging on the rim rule also applied to the net as well.

Thanks in advance for your replies.