Texas coach Rodney Terry confronted several UCF players on Wednesday after his Longhorns team fell 77-71 on the road in Orlando, calling out those who threw a "Horns Down" gesture and rubbing in the win for being "classless." The confrontation in the handshake line led to an awkward exchange as the two teams shook hands, and Terry was fuming even in his postgame press conference over the incident.
"I'm a big believer in, uh, you win the right way, you lose the right way," said Terry. "I always tell my guys that whether you win or lose, you win the right way, you lose the right way, you carry yourself the right way. You don't go through the handshake line and have about six or seven guys putting the horns down. We don't do that. When you do those kinds of things, it looks very classless."
Some UCF players were putting the horns down after taking down Texas on the road.
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) January 18, 2024
Texas head coach Rodney Terry called it “classless.” pic.twitter.com/HUpuP0OUhE
Terry's complaints come off as sour grapes, especially after a loss, and are reminiscent of an infamous exchange between Hall of Fame Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and former Oregon star Dillon Brooks in the 2016 Sweet 16 during which Krzyzewski publicly chastised Brooks for taking a last-second shot despite Oregon winning by 14 points.
Terry took issue not just with the gesture but also appeared to use the moment to take a shot at UCF by complaining about the level of exuberance Knights players exhibited after the win. It seemed to be a not-so-veiled jab at the difference between the UCF and Texas programs.
"It looks like you were just hoping to win," said Terry. "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."
UCF coach Johnny Dawkins had every right to brush off Terry's tirade postgame, but Dawkins respectfully spoke on the issue and said he would address it if he saw it happen.
"That's not the type of program we run," said Dawkins. "If I see that, I'll be addressing that from my standpoint personally. We're all about having class as a program, so I'll go back and review what happened, and if there's any action that needs to be taken on my end, from our staff, I'll do that."
UCF's win over Texas improved it to 2-2 in Big 12 play and 11-5 overall on the season with both wins in league play coming against powerhouse programs in Kansas and Texas.
