Chris Beard pushes back against question about Texas Tech invading Texas homecourt
Chris Beard has had a solid first season at the helm of the Texas Longhorns, bringing the program firmly into the AP Top 25 with a 19-8 overall record, including an 8-6 record in conference play. But one team in particular has gotten the best of the Longhorns on two straight occasions, giving way to an intriguing narrative: Texas Tech, Beard’s former school.
In Texas’ first meeting with Texas Tech, Beard’s long-awaited return to Lubbock, the Red Raiders dominated the Longhorns from start-to-finish, pulling off a 77-64 win over the Longhorns, despite many pinning it to be a close game. And on Saturday, Beard — this time, coaching the Longhorns on their own homecourt in Austin — fell victim to the Red Raiders once again, as Texas Tech ran away with a 61-55 victory.
In Saturday’s much-anticipated matchup, Texas Tech traveled with quite a few fans, as Texas’ burnt orange was matched with plenty of red in the Frank Erwin Center. But Beard pushed back on a question about the fans postgame, saying it wasn’t at all weird that there were so many Red Raiders fans in Austin.
“I understand the question, but when I get into game mode — me personally, I can’t speak for others — I really don’t know what’s going on out there in the stands. I’ve been on both ends of these. We had a great showing today with Longhorns fans. Texas Tech travels well. They have for the last few years. So, today I thought was a great college basketball game,” Beard said, veering away from the question at hand. “We came up a little bit short. Tie game at half, didn’t like the start of the second half. Certainly loved the courage and the fight that we played with at the end of the game. Just like a lot of times in our game, you make that comeback, now things settle down and you have to go play some real possessions. We just had some untimely missed block outs. I don’t want to speak for Mark Adams, but I think they won the game with their rebounding today, in my opinion.”
Beard, an alumnus of Texas, now coaches his alma mater, a job he accepted just this year. But of course, Beard would never have gotten the opportunity to succeed Shaka Smart at Texas, if not for his time with Texas Tech: he last coached with Texas Tech for five seasons, amassing a 112-55 overall record at the helm, all while leading the Red Raiders to new heights. In fact, during the 2018-19 season, he managed to lead the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament finals, where they eventually lost to Virginia in overtime.