Rodney Terry downplays impact of officiating in Miami loss

Rodney Terry wouldn’t put the blame on officiating being the reason Texas lost to Miami in the Elite Eight. After all, the Longhorns led by 13 points in the second half. Miami went on to erase that defecit in the second half and pick up the victory 88-81.

Fans are upset about a foul called on Texas F Brock Cunningham on a box-out against Miami’s Norchad Omier that saw Omier go up and over Cunningham on the play and fall to the floor. The foul was called on Cunningham with 60 seconds remaining with the game tied at 79. Omier sunk both free throw attempts and Miami controlled the rest of the game.

“I thought it was a well-played game. [Miami] does a great job of crashing the glass. We do a great job of trying to defend those guys in terms of rebounds,” Terry said postgame. “I don’t know, I thought it was a clean block-out.

“At the end of the day, it’s not the one or two deciding calls that decide the outcome. You still have to play through some of the adversity as you’re working through games, but it’s a little harder when it’s at the end of the game.”

Still, this Texas team making the Elite Eight is an incredible story. The players rallied around Terry when Chris Beard was arrested and subsequently fired. Starting the season 7-1 under Beard, Terry took over and went on to finish 23-8 overall and 12-6 in the Big 12. The Longhorns then went on to win three games and take the Big 12 Tournament crown.

It looked as though Texas was just a minutes away from its first Final Four in two decades, but Miami’s resilence proved too strong for the Longhorns to overcome.

Luckily for Terry, this won’t be the last time he has a chance to take Texas back to the Final Four. On Monday, it was announced that Terry and Texas were in the process of finalizing a deal that would remove the interim tag off his title and signed him to a five-year contract to return as head coach.

Still, this was a special Texas team that had all the makings of being a national champion. Terry was emotional at the thought of never coaching this group against after the loss.

“Not only have I loved these guys for the time that I’ve gotten a chance to coach them. But I’m gonna love them for the rest of their lives” said Terry. “I’ll be at their weddings, I’ll be talking to those guys when they have their firstborns. It was all about this team and I enjoyed every single day of this journey with this group.

“I’m gonna really miss working with this group. It was never about me. It was always about these guys. I love these guys.”