Longhorns Embarrass Texas Tech in Lubbock in Potential Final Meeting
Texas Longhorns men's basketball has gone through its own version of a Big 12 farewell tour this season, but have had some bumps and bruises against some of their longtime conference foes. Arguably their most painful punch came on Saturday in Lawrence against Kansas.
Three days later, they're leaving Lubbock as winners over the Texas Tech Red Raiders for the final time in the foreseeable future.
In a game that was delayed for a few minutes in the second half after Red Raiders fans tossed cans and full bottles of water on the court, the Longhorns held onto a huge lead and weathered the emotions on the road in an 81-69 win on Tuesday.
Texas forward Dylan Disu finished with a game-high 21 points and six rebounds as one of four Longhorns in double figures. He was joined by Max Abmas (18 points), Chendall Weaver (15 points, eight rebounds) and Kadin Shedrick (10 points, eight rebounds).
The Longhorns led by as many as 29 and never trailed.
© Michael C. Johnson, USA TODAY
Texas Tech got a team-high 17 points on 5 of 18 shooting from guard Pop Isaacs while Darrion Williams added 16 points and eight rebounds. Joe Toussaint tallied 13 points and five assists and Chance McMillian had 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Longhorns had an impressive start on defense, which led to an early 17-6 lead with 11:12 to play in the first half. After getting a bloody forehead in the opening minutes, Abmas hit a triple and a tough fall-away floater at the shot clock buzzer, but it was a pair of blocks and some crafty post moves from Shedrick that proved to be the early story.
Tech cut it back to single digits after a triple from Walton, but the momentum was short-lived.
Amid the hostile noise, Texas put together a dominant run that featured big plays across the board. Weaver and Brock Cunningham came up with some steals that led to buckets, Disu stayed hot as the focal point of the offense and the Red Raiders stayed cold from the field.
Cunningham and Abmas ended the half with a pair of triples that gave Texas a 47-23 lead headed into the locker room. The Red Raiders shot just 24.2 percent in the first half compared to 60 percent for the Longhorns.
Disu led all scorers at the half with 12 points while Weaver had nine points and six rebounds. Abmas had 11 points of his own.
Looking to make a run in the second half, the Red Raiders strung together a 7-0 run coming out of the locker room.
Craziness ensued midway through the second half. Cunningham was ejected after committing a flagrant 2 foul against Williams, which caused the game to be delayed for a few minutes after multiple fans tossed bottles and cans on the court. This resulted in Tech coach Grant McCasland getting on the mic to tell fans to stop.
The Red Raiders took seize of the momentum after this sequence and cut the lead to as little as 15 before the final stages
However, the margin was too great for the Red Raiders, who ran out of time despite recovering a bit in the second half.
The Longhorns host Oklahoma State on Saturday.
