Rodney Terry raves about atmosphere inside Allen Fieldhouse

Phog Allen Fieldhouse has not been kind to the Texas Longhorns, but regardless, Rodney Terry has an immense amount of respect for the place and loves playing there.

For his Texas team, Saturday presented yet another long afternoon in The Phog as the Longhorns fell by nearly 20 points, 86-67, to drop down to 6-8 in conference play, now having lost five of their last eight games, which has put their NCAA Tournament hopes in serious jeopardy.

“This building has been a tough building, man,” Terry said of Kansas‘ arena after Texas’ latest loss inside of it. “I mean, we’ve been 14 years in this league and only won one time. So it’s been tough, man, it hasn’t been easy, you know.”

If there’s one silver lining in the loss it’s that Texas won’t be having to travel back to Lawrence for another game, as far as we know, since theLonghorns move to the SEC next season and don’t appear to have plans to retain their annual meetings with Kansas.

However, Rodney Terry was able to put aside his disappointment over the day’s result and his team’s recent performance to comment on what sharp and passionate fans the Jayhawks have.

“Again, great basketball fans. You know, one of the best venues in college basketball. And obviously, what what Bill’s been able to do here in terms of building a a program that the expectations of protecting the home court is at a very high level. But very knowledgeable fans, basketball fans, and you know, we love playing playing here. It’s a great place to come and play and compete.”

Whether it’s Phog Allen this season or Rupp Arena next season, Terry knows the value of playing in major venues when it comes to recruiting.

“You know, we say it all the time, you know, you come to Texas to play in games in these type of environments and these type of venues. So again, great place to play.”

Allen Fieldhouse is certainly a great place to play for the home team. Kansas has experienced plenty of turbulence this season, whether it be injuries or just inconsistent play, but the one thing they’ve still managed to do is defend their home court.

Kansas only has two road wins in Big 12 play, but they’re still near the top of the league standings because they’re undefeated at home — and that’s not just in Big 12 play either, as KU hasn’t lost a home game since January of 2023, when TCU came in and whupped the Jayhawks 83-60 for one of the more puzzling final scores of the Bill Self era.