LUBBOCK — Brock Cunningham loves Texas Tech.

No, really.

Since assuming the villain’s role for Texas Tech fans in 2022 when Cunningham stepped off Texas’ team bus bare-chested in Lubbock and greeted a rowdy, profane crowd with a smile and a Hook ’em, the forward has embraced the hate, to borrow a term popular on the UT campus this season.

That hate came to a head in Texas’ emotional 81-69 win Tuesday, when Cunningham was ejected after slamming into Texas Tech’s Darrion Williams while chasing a loose ball. Though players on both sides exchanged little more than a few glares and some pointed words, the fans in United Supermarkets Arena lashed out in anger. Almost as many bottles as boos poured down on the court, prompting a delay in the game and a public plea for calm from Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland.

Cunningham’s father, Ed Cunningham, was an All-American offensive lineman for the Texas football team in the 1980s who had his share of run-ins with the Red Raiders. The younger Cunningham certainly inherited some of that physical mindset and absorbed the essence of a rivalry that date backs a century. But after the game, he said the passion is all part of the pleasure for a fierce rivalry now on its last legs.

“There’s so much history with this,” said Cunningham, an Austin native who graduated from Westlake High School. “I grew up in the state, so I know all about the rivalry. It's a ton of fun. In my opinion, it’s one of the best college rivalries there is.”

Saying goodbye to the Texas-Texas Tech rivalry

It’ll end in a couple of months, depending on how teams from Texas Tech and Texas progress in any NCAA postseason. Texas will leave for the SEC on July 1, and there hasn’t been much chatter about keeping the series alive.

Think Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire’s “everything-runs-through-Lubbock” speech in 2022. Think Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark’s plea for the Red Raiders to “take care of business” in Austin last year. Think the Chris Beard saga. Think the profane chants directed at UT basketball player Max Abmas on Tuesday as he was on the court with his face covered in blood after an errant elbow from Williams.

And think of Cunningham’s flagrant foul and the chaos that followed. At this time, there might be too much acrimony and downright ugliness for officials from either school to continue the series regardless of the sports season.

And that’s too bad, Cunningham said.

“It’s a rare form of passion (here),” he said. “You’re going to miss playing in environments like this.”

Watching the rest of the game from the locker room

Cunningham, a graduate student in his sixth year in the Texas program, made his last game in Lubbock a memorable one. Before his ejection, the 6-foot-6 forward scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds with two assists and a rare blocked shot in his most productive Big 12 game this season.

And about that ejection?

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“Yeah, you know, that’s a tough one,” he said. “It was kind of a chippy play; the ball was right there. … I thought maybe a flagrant, but I definitely didn’t think a flagrant II.”

Cunningham, set to get on the team bus and take a quick plane ride back to Austin, then grinned and shrugged a bit. “It was just the heat of the game, the heat of the rivalry,” he said. “It was fun.”

Moments after his flagrant II foul, Cunningham gathered his teammates together and exhorted them to keep playing hard, to keep playing focused — and to keep the lead. They did just that while Cunningham paced in the locker room watching the telecast.

“Watching the game is always more stressful than being in it,” he said. “But it was good to see the guys pull it out. We had a lot of guys play really well tonight.”

And as Cunningham left the court, he gave a fitting farewell to the Texas Tech fans. Much as he did two years ago when he stepped off the Texas bus in front of a rabid Red Raider crowd, Cunningham flashed the Horns up with a wry grin as he ran back to the locker room.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball's Brock Cunningham will miss long rivalry with Tech