Rodney Terry releases heartfelt statement following passing of Texas basketball legend Lance Blanks
The Texas Longhorns’ basketball community lost one of their all-time greats this week. Former Longhorn legend Lance Blanks passed away earlier this week at the age of 56. Blanks peppered his name all over the record books for Texas men’s basketball and finished his career in Austin as one of the most decorated players in school history. On Friday evening, Texas men’s basketball head coach Rodney Terry issued a heartfelt statement on the passing of his good friend on Twitter.
Check it out below.
“I will miss you, my brother. Rest easy my friend. Love you always LB,” Terry tweeted.
Then below that he wrote a brief statement about Blanks. “Lance was one of my closest friends, my mentor, and the brother I never had. We traveled the world together. Words cannot express the pain I have for not being able to talk with him again. He always had a way about him that made you know everything would be just fine,” Terry wrote on Friday evening.
Lance Blanks cemented a remarkable legacy at Texas
Blanks, along with Travis Mays and Joey Wright, led Texas to its first Elite Eight in the 64-team era in 1990 with an exciting style of play. A transfer from Virginia after earning Mr. Texas Basketball honors, Blanks followed his 19.7 ppg 1988-89 campaign with a 1989-90 season where he scored 20.3 ppg on 40 percent shooting. He led the Longhorns to NCAA tournament wins over Georgia, Purdue, and Xavier before bowing out to Arkansas in the 1990 Elite Eight.
A captain of the 1990 team, Blanks’ name is all over the Texas men’s basketball record books. He is one of 40 in the 1000-point club with 1322 across his two seasons on the Forty Acres. His 671 points in 1988-89 are tied for eighth most in one year in UT history. Blanks’ 20.0 ppg across his two-year career is good for fourth-most in school history among players with more than 500 points. He also has the Texas record for most steals in a single season, with 111 during 1988-89. The Longhorns were 49-18 during his two seasons and his teams won four NCAA tournament games
He was added to the Longhorns Hall of Honor in 2007, and remained a part of the Texas basketball family as a commentator for many Longhorn home and road games with Longhorn Network and ESPN.
Blanks played for the Detroit Pistons and the Minnesota Timberwolves during a three-year NBA career after he was picked with the 26th pick in the 1990 draft. He played in other domestic and overseas leagues for several years before entering the scouting world.
After five seasons as an assistant general manager with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Blanks was named general manager of the Phoenix Suns in 2010. He held that position until 2013. He recently was a scout for the Los Angeles Clippers organization.
Blanks is survived by his mother Clarice, his brother Sidney Jr., the mother of his two daughters, two daughters, and a granddaughter.
On3’s Joe Cook also contributed to this article.