The Texas basketball team lost an emotional game earlier this week against UCF basketball in heartbreaking fashion. The Longhorns had dominated the majority of the game, and they led by 15 points in the second half. However, the Knights did not give up, and they came all the way back to make things close at the end. UCF ended up beating Texas in a tight one, and when they did, they did the iconic ‘horns down' celebration that Longhorns fans despise. Texas coach Rodney Terry was not happy about it.
‘Horns down' has been a controversial topic in college sports. It is essentially 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 flagged for it. It's truly bizarre to see.
Texas basketball coach Rodney Terry is not a fan of it. When UCF basketball did the ‘horns down' after the win, Terry had a big problem with it and he confronted a lot of the players that were doing it. He even called the move “classless.”
“It looks like you were just hoping to win,” Rodney Terry said, via Kyle Boone of CBS Sports. “We never go into games hoping to win, we go into games 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 I was angry about.”
On Saturday, Texas had another close, emotional game at home. The Longhorns went to battle against 9th ranked Baylor basketball. This game also came down to the wire, but this time, Texas got the win on a buzzer beater. Their celebration… well, it kind of looked like they won the national championship. Perhaps it was the relief of the win, but something sparked Terry to make an apology after the game.
“I had no intention of trying to show up anyone, or offend anyone in terms of what occurred at the end of that game,” Terry said, according to an article from ESPN.
Terry also noted that UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins was a good friend of his. He went on to discuss the season that UCF is having, and it sounds like he has a lot of respect for their program.
“He has a good program and they're having a good year,” Terry said. “Personally, if I offended him or his program, or anyone for that matter, that was not my intention. We have a lot of passion for who we are and what we are representing. We try to do that in a class manner, at the highest level. If I offended some of our fans as well in not handling myself in the right way … I apologize to our fan base as well, and understand what it means to be the head coach at the University of Texas and what our brand stands for.”
It seems like Terry got caught up in the moment after the Texas basketball loss, and his emotions got the best of him after a heated game. He realized that, acknowledged it and apologized for the mistake that was made.
There were no ‘horns down' moments on Saturday as Texas picked up the huge win, but it would've been interesting to see what would've happened if the Longhorns lost another close one and Baylor players celebrated like UCF did. It's bound to happen again this season.
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