Moments after a discouraging 77-71 house loss to UCF on Wednesday night time, Texas males’s basketball coach Rodney Terry took offense at how among the Knights had been celebrating.
A handful of UCF gamers mocked Texas’ iconic Hook ‘Em Horns hand signal by elevating their arms and displaying the notorious Horns Down gesture.
Whereas going by way of the postgame handshake line, Terry repeatedly shouted “that’s classless” on the UCF gamers and informed them, “Don’t do this s—.” Terry was nonetheless fuming half-hour later when he addressed the incident throughout his postgame information convention.
“Once you do these sorts of issues, it seems to be very classless and it additionally seems to be such as you had been simply hoping to win,” Terry mentioned. “We by no means go into video games making an attempt to hope to win. We go into video games anticipating to win. So we don’t act like that. We anticipate to win. We don’t soar up and down and act like we gained the nationwide championship. We positive don’t step on anybody’s house courtroom and act loopy and attempt to present them up in any manner. We don’t do this.
“You guys gained. Hey, we shake your hand and tip our hat to you, however we’re not going to allow you to act that manner in our constructing. You’re not going to place your horns down and do all that nonsense.”
UCF coach Johnny Dawkins informed reporters after the sport that Terry is “a terrific man” and that he has “plenty of respect” for the Texas program. Dawkins mentioned he would overview the footage and promised, “If there’s any motion that must be taken on my finish from our workers, I’ll do this.”
When Dawkins does watch video of the handshake line incident, he is perhaps shocked how tame his gamers’ celebration was. They don’t appear to be flashing the Horns Down within the faces of Texas gamers. This wasn’t the atrocity that Terry made it out to be.
The larger concern for Terry must be his personal group’s incapacity to guard a 15-point second-half lead. The Longhorns made solely 4 baskets over the sport’s ultimate 12 minutes, following up a dreadful highway loss at outmanned West Virginia with one other expensive setback in opposition to an unheralded UCF group within the midst of its debut Large 12 season.
Shedding winnable video games is very damaging on this yr’s Large 12 as a result of there aren’t many gimmes out there. Solely West Virginia, Oklahoma State and UCF are decrease than 54th within the nation per Ken Pomeroy’s rankings.
Now 12-5 general however 1-3 within the Large 12, Texas is poised to start a gauntlet of video games in opposition to rugged competitors. Awaiting Texas the subsequent three weeks: Baylor, at Oklahoma, at BYU, Houston, at TCU, Iowa State. And even when the Longhorns someway survive that, highway video games at Houston, Kansas, Texas Tech and Baylor nonetheless stay earlier than postseason play begins.
KenPom initiatives Texas to complete 17-14 general and 6-12 in league play.
That in all probability wouldn’t safe the Longhorns an NCAA match bid.
The excellent news for Terry is that the treatment for each his issues is similar. The extra wins the Longhorns pile up, the extra doubtless it’s they return to the NCAA match and the less opponents may have the prospect to have a good time at their expense.
