OSU's Terrence Rencher is making one last trip to UT's Erwin Center aiming for one more win

AUSTIN, Texas — Terrence Rencher often thinks of his first big moment inside the Frank Erwin Center.

Midnight madness 1991, the night practice officially began for his freshman season at Texas.

Hype was building, but Rencher still wasn’t sure what to expect.

Then he heard the public-address announcer begin his introduction. Lights started flashing. Smoke filled the arena.

And the crowd went crazy.

“This is the expectation I wanted for myself,” Rencher said. “Growing up as a kid, I always wanted to go to a place that people were excited to have me and they expected me to play well.

“In that moment, this is what I envisioned as a kid.”

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Then an 18-year-old kid from the Bronx, New York, who was named Mr. Basketball of the state, Rencher only wanted to prove he was a good player.

He exceeded his own expectations.

Three decades later, he still stands as one of the best in Texas history.

“The smooth, quiet, left-handed assassin,” former teammate Tremaine Wingfield said with a hearty laugh.

Regarded as one of the top players in program history, Rencher helped change Texas basketball three decades ago as he became the program’s all-time leading scorer (2,306) and steals leader (255).

Saturday, he returns, this time in a brighter shade of orange. When Oklahoma State plays No. 23-ranked Texas at 1 p.m., Rencher will be on the Cowboys’ bench as an assistant coach.

It’ll be his final time in the Erwin Center. The immaculate Moody Center opens this year and new legends will form.

“I told Coach (Chris) Beard, ‘Man, whatever they have of me in the practice facility, just give it to me,’” Rencher said, “‘because I don’t want my stuff blowing down Red River (Street) when they move out to the other place.’”

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Rencher’s place in history will remain intact. But it’ll be hard to top.

“They should have a statue of him outside of their new arena when it’s built,” former Texas coach Tom Penders said. “He’s the best all-around player I ever coached.

“I coached for 36 years and I had a lot of great ones. He had no weaknesses.”

Rencher was the unassuming star of the “Running ‘Horns,” a team that overwhelmed opponents with tempo. Rencher thrived in the system.

Texas was simply a perfect fit from the first time he saw the Longhorns on TV.

Rencher knew of programs on the East Coast. His top four choices — St. John’s, Syracuse, Virginia and Maryland — showed little interest. But Rencher remembered seeing Penders' Longhorns beat DePaul on TV.

And Rencher wanted to give Texas a shot.

It didn’t take long for Penders to arrive in the Bronx. And in October, Rencher was on an official visit to Austin, attending his first-ever football game wishing he never had to leave.

The beautiful campus. The energy of students. The warm weather.

“It just blew my mind,” Rencher said.

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So much so that during the visit, Rencher even asked Penders if he could come back on his other four official visits.

“I never had a kid say that or think that,” Penders said. “He just loved it.”

Two days later, Rencher committed.

By his junior year, he was becoming a star. Penders often looked at stat sheets after each game and marveled at Rencher’s totals.

“In the early 90s there wasn’t a lot of New York guys going down to Texas or places like that,” Rencher said. “My game, I thought, kinda opened some people’s eyes.”

Wingfield spent two seasons at Louisville, where he had heard of Rencher before transferring to Texas.

But seeing was truly believing. In pick-up games during the 1993 summer, Rencher dominated. Wingfield knew he was playing with someone special.

“I felt like — and I still feel like that to this day — he was probably one of the best players I ever played with in the sport of basketball,” Wingfield said. “It was his all-around game, his basketball IQ, his ability to make something out of nothing. It just seemed effortless for him.

“I just realized no one can guard this guy.”

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Rencher was drafted in the second round — No. 32 overall — in the 1995 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets. But he lasted just one season in the NBA, bouncing to Miami and Phoenix before he eventually went overseas for nine seasons.

When he reached his 30s, Rencher began to notice the physical toll on his body. He had long resisted considering what was next.

He resisted coaching, so he went back to Texas. In 2007, he finished his degree while also serving as the Longhorns’ academic mentor. He worked with Kevin Durant, D.J. Augustin and others.

Rencher was around the team for nearly everything and got close with assistant Rodney Terry, who became his mentor.

The next season, Rencher jumped into the coaching world.

He led Regents School of Austin before going to Saint Louis as a graduate assistant.

Rencher then had stops as an assistant coach at Texas State, Tulsa, Sam Houston State, New Mexico, San Diego and Creighton before being hired at OSU this season.

It’s a huge next step for the 48-year-old.

“Personally, I like guys that grind,” said Beard, who was a student assistant at Texas when Rencher was a player. “As good of a player as he was, he’s kinda come up the hard way coaching, too.

“So, to see him at this level, I think he’s a future head coach, period, sooner than later.”

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At least for now, Rencher’s focus is on the present.

With OSU, Rencher and David Cason, who was an assistant for the Longhorns, split recruiting duties in the Lone Star State.

Rencher and Larry Blunt handle the defensive duties. And the Cowboys have shined on that end of the floor, ranking No. 9 nationally in KenPom.com’s adjusted defensive efficiency.

It’s that side of the floor OSU will lean on for a season sweep of the Longhorns. If so, Rencher cannot think of a better way to close out his time at the Erwin Center.

“This is the first time in my coaching career — being fair to all the other places I’ve coached and competed against those guys — I legitimately have a chance to beat ‘em,” Rencher said. “So, it’s exciting in that realm.

“Obviously, we already beat them at home, but having the chance to go into the Erwin Center and have a legitimate chance to win it if we play well, that’s more exciting to me than anything, to be honest.”

Jacob Unruh covers college sports for The Oklahoman. You can send your story ideas to him at junruh@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @jacobunruh. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

OSU at No. 23 Texas

TIPOFF: 1 p.m. Saturday at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas (ESPN2)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State basketball: Terrence Rencher is Texas Longhorns legend