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Grant McCasland, Rodney Terry comment on Texas Tech basketball fan-throwing incidents
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- Grant McCasland, Rodney Terry comment on Texas Tech basketball fan-throwing incidents
The rivalry between Texas Tech and Texas goes back many moons, and it's not reserved exclusively to the basketball court.
The final known chapter of this saga took place on Tuesday night in United Supermarkets Arena. As expected, fireworks erupted during the game, though not the kind Tech head coach Grant McCasland had hoped for.
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As the Longhorns had taken firm control of the game on the way to an 81-69 victory, a Flagrant II foul by Texas' Brock Cunningham led to a fairly full can of beer — which came from the upper deck of the arena — and multiple water bottles were tossed onto the playing surface . The beer landed close to the Longhorn huddle as officials were examining Cunningham's infraction, which he was ejected for.
Texas head coach Rodney Terry said after the game he communicated with game officials that he was considering taking his team out of the line of fire.
"I did say that to (referee) Kelly Self," Terry said. "I said, Kelly, man, if they keep throwing things, because they're throwing directly at our bench at this point, I said we're gonna go back in the locker room. I said I know we've got one technical foul. It should be a second technical foul but if they keep throwing things at our guys, at the bench, then we've got to protect our guys and go inside."
Texas Tech was assessed one technical, which led to two free throws for the Longhorns. Before that, McCasland got on the mic and pleaded with fans to cease fire — something Tech football coach Joey McGuire also said to the student section before the game.
Texas Tech's head coach Grant McCasland speaks to fans after objects are thrown on to the court during the Big 12 basketball game against Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, at United Supermarkets Arena.
"Order was quickly restored," Terry said. "I thought Grant did a great job getting on the microphone and talking to the crowd, settling everybody down a little bit. Some coaches won't do that. He did that. Kudos to him. Proud of him. Proud of Coach Grant. He's a man of a lot of character and a good man who's done a great job coaching his team."
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Having participated in this rivalry back in his first go around at Tech from 1999 to 2001, McCasland understands Red Raider fans' feelings toward the Longhorns. Players Dylan Disu and Chendall Weaver didn't seem to shaken up about the whole thing, saying that's part of being a Longhorn: everybody hates you.
McCasland said he knows the whole of the sell-out crowd isn't to blame for the incidents — which led to multiple ejections, including one student who started a fight and was carried out of the arena by multiple security officers. A few rotten eggs spoiled the bunch.
"We all know what's at stake in this game," McCasland said. "There's a lot going on. There's a lot of passion in this game. When you have to go talk on the mic, you're talking to 15-plus-thousand people but really you're talking to a couple people that are doing things that are completely unacceptable. You could tell when I finally communicated clearly like this can't happen, a lot of people were applauding because they know it's not what we need to do and it cost us technicals and it caused us a problem.
"But you know what comes with this great place is there's a lot of passion and unfortunately I thought the decisions of a few people impacted everybody and that's not what this is about and we'll get better because of it."
Texas' head coach Rodney Terry yells at a referee after objects are thrown on to the court during the Big 12 basketball game against Texas Tech, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, at United Supermarkets Arena.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: What Texas, Texas Tech basketball coaches said after Tuesday's fan incidents
