An important men’s basketball game between a pair of fierce intrastate rivals turned ugly Tuesday night, as a scuffle between Texas and Texas Tech players led to a delay when Red Raiders fans began throwing objects onto the court.
Midway through the second half in Lubbock, Longhorns forward Brock Cunningham and Red Raiders guard Darrion Williams chased after a loose ball. As Williams went to recover it, Cunningham delivered a linebacker-like blow right in front of ESPN commentators Rich Hollenberg and Fran Fraschilla.
The two sides needed to be separated, and the game was stopped as Texas Tech fans threw debris onto the floor—the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports that at least one “fairly full can of beer” and a number of water bottles were thrown onto the court.
Michael C. Johnson/USA TODAY Sports
Ultimately, Cunningham was ejected for a flagrant 2 foul while Texas Tech fans earned their team an administrative technical foul. Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland eventually took hold of a microphone and asked fans to stop.
Texas would hang on to win, 81–69, after the ugly scene.
This was the play that led to everything. pic.twitter.com/T9fOOB6HhM
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) February 28, 2024
“We all know what’s at stake in this game,” McCasland said after the game. “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.”
His Texas counterpart, Rodney Terry, was complimentary of how McCasland handled the situation.
“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.”
The fiery conference rivalry had extra fuel, as it could be the last time that the Longhorns and Red Raiders face off for the foreseeable future, with Texas leaving for the SEC after the season. There was also plenty at stake for two teams in the middle of the pack in the rugged Big 12, as Texas looks to bolster its NCAA tournament résumé.
