Texas' win marred as angry TTU fans throw bottles
An ugly scene in Texas' road win over Texas Tech saw angry fans throw objects onto the floor, forcing Red Raiders coach Grant McCaslan to take the microphone to implore the crowd to stop.
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Dylan Disu scored 21 points, Max Abmas added 18 and Texas rode a big first half to a 81-69 victory over Texas Tech on Tuesday night in a game that included a significant delay after fans threw objects onto the floor.
Midway through the second half Texas' Brock Cunningham delivered a hard check to Darrion Williams, knocking the Red Raiders player out of bounds. While officials were reviewing the play, objects including water bottles were thrown onto the floor and security could be seen escorting a few fans out of the arena.
Cunningham was ejected with a flagrant foul 2, and Texas Tech was given an administrative technical for the fans' behavior. That announcement resulted in more objects thrown. Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland took the microphone to implore the crowd to stop.
"We all know what's at stake in this game," McCasland said afterward, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. "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."
After play resumed, Tech (29-9, 8-7 Big 12) scored the next five points to get the deficit under 20 for the first time in the half, but the Red Raiders didn't get closer than the 12-point final margin.
Texas coach Rodney Terry said he told the officials he was considering taking his team off the court before order was restored.
"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 going to 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."
Terry commended McCasland for taking the microphone and "settling everybody down a little bit."
"Some coaches won't do that," Terry said. "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."
Chendall Weaver finished with 15 points, and Kadin Shedrick had 10 for Texas (18-10, 7-8).
Isaacs finished with 17 points, 13 coming in the second half, for Tech, which lost for just the second time in 16 home games. Williams had 16 points, Joe Toussaint 13 and Chance McMillian 10 along with a game-high nine rebounds. Seven-footer Warren Washington, who has started all 24 games he has played, sat out with a nagging foot injury.
An noisy, energized crowd urged the Red Raiders on early in this final scheduled meeting between the rivals. But Texas (18-10, 7-8), which is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC next season, never trailed and outscored the Red Raiders 28-9 over the final seven minutes of the half to lead 47-23. Texas shot 60% in the first half, including 12 points from Disu and 11 by Abmas. Tech shot just 24% in the half, making 1 of 10 from the arc, and Isaacs was 0-for-10 from the floor.
There were 56 free throws taken, and three players from each team finished with four fouls.
The Longhorns gained a split of the season series and claimed their 90th win in the series that has spanned 157 games.
Texas is host to Oklahoma State while Texas Tech is at West Virginia on Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
