Texas basketball holds on for emotional win over Texas Tech
LUBBOCK — The frenzied Texas Tech faithful wanted to send Texas off to the SEC with a South Plains spanking, but the Longhorns had no plans to follow that script.
In arguably its most complete game of the season considering the circumstances, Texas dominated on both ends of the court while securing an 81-69 win. In the process, the Longhorns (18-10, 7-8 Big 12) made a resounding case to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee to move off the bubble and tighten its grasp on an at-large bid with a fifth “Quad 1” win.
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The game had its fair amount of the ugliness that has characterized this rivalry over the past generation, especially midway through the second half after Texas forward Brock Cunningham body-blocked Darrion Williams into the first row while battling for a loose ball.
The hard foul led to a brief shoving match between a few players and a few plastic bottles thrown onto the court. Cunningham got sent to the locker room with a flagrant II foul while Texas Tech (19-9, 8-7) got assessed a technical foul for the behavior of its fans.
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Texas held a 65-40 lead at the time of Cunningham’s ejection at the 10 minute, 10 second mark. The Red Raiders closed to 19 points in less than a minute in the heated moments after Cunningham’s flagrant foul but never got within 16 points to make a serious threat in the last conference meeting between the longtime rivals.
An elbow to the face that left a bloody gash above Max Abmas’ right eye early in the game seemed to help shake the graduate guard out of a recent scoring slump that included three straight games with single-digit points. Or perhaps it was the profane chants directed at Abmas from the crowd while he lay writhing on the court.
Final: Texas 81, Texas Tech 69
Longhorns hold on for an emotional, tense victory that should burst any bubble talk. pic.twitter.com/5Ue539USAI— Thomas Jones (@ThomasJonesAAS) February 28, 2024
Regardless of the reason, Abmas scored 11 of his 18 points in the first half as Texas built a 47-23 lead by halftime. Dylan Disu led all players with 21 points, and Chendall Weaver added 15 points and eight rebounds while coming off the bench for the first time in almost two months.
Texas will return home Saturday for a 1 p.m. game against Oklahoma State.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball gets off bubble with emotional win at Texas Tech
