Texas MBB beat Texas Tech Red Raiders badly (81-69) on their home court in Lubbock, TX the same way Texas Tech beat the Longhorns seven weeks prior in Austin, TX at the Moody Center.
It was a good revenge tour and a fitting way to end a rivalry, at least for a while until the powers to be schedule the pair to meet up somewhere a long time from now. Texas leads the all-time series 90-67 that dates back to 1939.
Brock Cunningham likely will not be allowed to drive through Lubbock, TX for a while. Halfway through the second half, Cunningham, being his usual aggressive playing self, was going for a loose ball and hip checked a Texas Tech player that threw him against the bench like they were hockey players on the ice instead of a basketball court.
Cunningham was called for a “Flagrant 2” foul and ejected from the game with a technical foul assessed. Before leaving the game, Cunningham scored nine points, seven rebounds, two steals, one block, and two assists.
The Texas Tech fans were so upset they started hurling water bottles, beer cans, and small liquor bottles onto the court.
The Texas coaching staff immediately gathered all Texas players to the center of the court into a close huddle to protect everyone in case the crowd fervor escalated. One Texas Tech fan had to be handcuffed and six police officers carried him out of the venue as he kicked and screamed and shouted profanities.
Back to the game…Texas played a complete game coming out and immediately pressured the ball. Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland said in the post game press conference, “We couldn’t handle the ball because of the way they [Texas] pressured us.”
Four Longhorns scored double digits. Dylan Disu was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points, six rebounds and two assists. Interesting, no three-pointers this game, but he tried twice.
Disu commented in post game on the topic of how ranker the crowd was saying, “We expected nothing less from any crowd that we go to, they hate us, and so we have learned to embrace that hate.”
Max Abmas continued his scoring greatness with 18 points and moved to No. 11 NCAA All-Time Division I Career Scoring Leader with 3,025 points and 517 assists in 151 career games.
Abmas needs 34 points to move into the No. 10 All-Time Scoring Leader and has three regular season game left, or 11 games left if Texas plays like they did this game and make the NCAA Championship game on Apr 8 (Mon).
Chendall Weaver plays like a ninja with a basketball: a pesky disrupter, can spring so high as to take an rebound away from the offensive without fouling by simply jumping and reaching over the opponents head, and will fastbreak you while insuring you foul him, all with a smile on his face.
Weaver scored a season high 15 points, nine made free-throws, eight rebounds, and tied for the most efficient player on the court all game. Weaver also had a block and a steal in the game.
This was Weaver’s first time playing in Lubbock and was asked in post game what he thought of the crowd. Weaver came alive, sat back in his chair, smiled big and said, “It’s Crazy! I have never witnessed anything like that. It, it was fun though.”
Kadin Shedrick continues his return to dominance once again showing his strength on the boards and ability to score with six rebounds, two blocks, and 10 points. All of this during a total of eight minutes of playing time.
Our Analysis of the Game
On social media someone asked what everyone’s confidence level was for Texas to beat Texas Tech. We said 10, but there were conditions. We were confident that Texas would win if, and only if, Texas
- Texas plays extremely tough defense the entire game
(real bone-on-bone effort the entire game) - All starting players score, at least, their season average
(Texas’ bench made up for this and scored 34 points) - Texas plays a calculated sharp game, meaning sharp passes, controlled and non-hurried plays.
(Mission accomplished) - Do not get into a fastbreak contest.
(It wasn’t a contest, however Texas had 11 points from fastbreaks compared to three points for Texas Tech
Post Game Coach Terry Comments
Texas head coach Rodney Terry in the post game said, “Really proud of how hard my guys played tonight. I thought they competed at a very high level…really set the tone for the game.”
On Max Abmas getting hurt early in the game with a gash over his eye, coach Terry said, “Max is a tough dude. Max is one of the greats to play college basketball. When it’s all said and done and the dust settles, he is one the greatest players to ever play college basketball.”
Game Highlights
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