Texas basketball pounded Texas Tech in an emotional win. Here are three things we saw.
LUBBOCK — In arguably its most complete game of the season considering the circumstances, Texas dominated on both ends of the court in an 81-69 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday that should tighten the Longhorns’ grip on an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
Texas (18-10, 7-8 Big 12) received plenty of production from its two leading scorers in Dylan Disu and Max Abmas, who scored 21 points and 18 points, respectively. But the Longhorns also did all the dirty work in perhaps their last visit to Lubbock. Texas outrebounded Texas Tech (19-9, 8-7) by 14 boards and held a potent Red Raiders team to 36% shooting.
With the win, the Longhorns claimed the final bragging rights in a series that includes 158 meetings extending back to 1939. Texas, which will join the SEC on July 1, holds a 90-67 edge over the Red Raiders, and neither school has talked much about extending the series as a nonconference meeting.
More: Have Texas basketball fans ever stormed the court? Yes, but it's rare.
Here are three things we saw in the Longhorns’ win:
Max Abmas: Six stitches, even more points
An elbow to the face that left a bloody gash above 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 him from the crowd while he lay writhing on the court. Regardless of the reason, Abmas showed plenty of grit by quickly returning to the game following six stitches and making 4-of-12 3-pointers to go along with a team-high four assists while scoring his most points in five games.
They said it: “ I hear the stuff they were saying, but you can’t let it bother you. You just have to go out and make the next shot.” — Max Abmas
More: Where Texas basketball stands in March Madness bracket predictions after loss to Kansas
Rodney Terry: ‘I thought about removing our players from the court’
Midway through the second half, Brock Cunningham got ejected after slamming into Texas Tech’s Darrion Williams while trying to chase down a loose ball. After a brief scuffle between various players, Tech fans showered the court with water bottles and at least one full beer can, prompting a technical foul on Texas Tech and a plea from Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland, who told the crowd inside United Supermarkets Arena that “it's got to stop. ... am I clear?"
They said it: “I told (the officials) that if they keep throwing things — because they're thrown directly at our bench at this point — we're going to go back to the locker room. We’ve got to protect our guys. But order was quickly restored. I thought Grant did a great job getting on the microphone and talking to the crowd and settling everybody down a little bit. Some coaches won't do that. He did that. You know, kudos to him, proud of him.” — Texas coach Rodney Terry
Weaver, Cunningham, Shedrick: Hitting marks for bench
Terry shook up the rotation by starting Ithiel Horton in place of Chendall Weaver, and the team responded with 34 points off the bench. Weaver, the energizer guard in his first season in the program, scored 15 points while making 9 of 11 free throws and also pulled down a career-high eight rebounds. Cunningham, a graduate forward, had his highest-scoring game in Big 12 play with nine points, and he also grabbed seven rebounds before being ejected with 10:10 left in the game. Kadin Shedrick, a 6-foot-11 forward nagged by a back injury for most of conference play, had 10 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots in just eight minutes of action.
They said it: “Just being at Texas, we’ve got to embrace the hate. Nobody likes us. It was crazy (in the gym); I’ve never experienced anything like that. It was fun, though.” — Chendall Weaver
Up next: Oklahoma State
Texas returns to Moody Center for a 1 p.m. game Saturday against struggling Oklahoma State (12-15, 4-10), one of the two Big 12 teams — along with West Virginia — that have no legitimate NCAA Tournament hopes aside from winning the Big 12 Tournament. The Cowboys have been playing better in recent weeks, however, with wins over BYU and Cincinnati and a pair of narrow losses to rival Oklahoma.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Three things we saw in Texas basketball's win over Texas Tech
