THE Texas Basketball The team lost an emotional game earlier this week to UCF basketball in heartbreaking fashion. The Longhorns had dominated the majority of the game and led by 15 points in the second half. However, the Knights did not give up and came all the way back to close things out in the end. UCF ended up beating Texas in a close game, and when they did, they did the iconic “horns down” celebration that Longhorns Fans despise. Texas coach Rodney Terry was not happy.
“Horns down” is a controversial topic in college sports. It’s basically the same as any other form of trash talk, but Texas really doesn’t like it. In fact, in college football, if an opposing player does it during the game, they can be reported for it. It’s really weird to see.
Texas basketball coach Rodney Terry is not a fan of the idea. When the UCF basketball team gave up after a win, Terry had a big problem with it and confronted many players who did it. He even called the move “classless.”
“It seems like you just hope to win,” Rodney Terry said, via Kyle Boone of CBS Sports. “We never go to games expecting to win, we go expecting to win. So we don’t act like that. We expect to win. We don’t jump up and down and act like we won a national championship. … That’s what made me angry.”
On Saturday, Texas had another close and emotional game at home. The Longhorns took on the No. 9 ranked Baylor basketball team. This game also came down to the wire, but this time Texas won thanks to a buzzer beater. Their celebration… well, it looked like they had won the national championship. Maybe it was the relief of the win, but something about it made Terry apologize after the game.
“I had no intention to try to show off anyone, or offend anyone in terms of what happened at the end of that match,” Terry said, according to a report from ESPN.
Terry also noted that UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins was a good friend of his. He then discussed the season UCF is having, and it seems like he has a lot of respect for their program.
“He’s got a good program and they’re having a good year,” Terry said. “Personally, if I offended him or his program or anyone else, that was not my intention. We have a lot of passion for who we are and what we stand for. We try to do it with class, at the highest level. If I offended some of our fans as well by not behaving the right way … I apologize to our fans as well and I understand what it means to be the head coach at the University of Texas and what our brand stands for.”
It seems that Terry was caught up in the Texas basketball loss, and his emotions got the best of him after a heated game. He realized it, owned up to it, and apologized for the mistake.
There were no “horns down” moments Saturday as Texas pulled off the huge win, but it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the Longhorns lost another close one and Baylor players celebrated like UCF did. This will surely happen again this season.
