Texas basketball nearly left the floor when Tech fans were throwing things

Rodney Terry, Texas basketball
Rodney Terry, Texas basketball / Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
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In the second half in Lubbock on Feb. 27, tensions nearly boiled over between Texas basketball and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. After senior Texas forward Brock Cunningham hip-checked sophomore Texas Tech forward Darrion Williams while they were barreling into the sideline, other players from both teams had to jump in to settle some rising tempers.

The Texas Tech faithful at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock were already rowdy before that play where Cunningham checked Williams into the sideline. But the fans really got aggressive when the ref crew went to review the play for a potential flagrant 2 foul call on Cunningham.

Texas basketball HC Rodney Terry reacts to tempers boiling over in Lubbock

As the refs were reviewing the play at the monitor, the fans at United Supermarkets Arena started to throw objects onto the floor. It got so bad that Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland was forced to get on the arena microphone to ask the fans to calm down and stop throwing objects on the court.

In the postgame press conference, Texas head coach Rodney Terry felt the situation was unsafe to the degree that he nearly took his team to the locker room until things got under control.

""I did say that to (referee) Kelly Self. 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.""

The Texas Tech crowd did calm down after McCasland got on the microphone. Although, the Red Raiders did get a technical foul called against them due to the fans throwing objects onto the court.

""Order was quickly restored. I thought Grant did a great job getting on the microphone and talking to the crowd, settling everybody down a little bit. "

Texas Tech did go on a bit of a run down the stretch in the second half to close the gap on the big Texas lead. But it was too little too late at that point of the second half for the Red Raiders, since Texas had such an overwhelming 20+ point lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

The Longhorns held off the Red Raiders to get the convincing double-digit win in Lubbock on Feb. 27, by a score of 81-69.

Texas wins the final Big 12 regular season matchup vs. Texas Tech

Cunningham getting ejected in the second half for the flagrant foul was one of many headline-worthy events that took place in the last Big 12 matchup in Lubbock between Texas and Texas Tech.

Terry and the Longhorns avenged their loss to Texas Tech at home at the Moody Center in Austin in the Big 12 opener by claiming the victory by a dozen points earlier this week in Lubbock.

The win for Terry's squad was their fourth in Big 12 road games this season. Texas is now 18-10 (7-8 Big 12) with three games remaining on the regular season slate.

Next up for Terry and the Longhorns is the final Big 12 regular season matchup against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at home at the Moody Center in Austin on March 2.

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