A highly-anticipated final regular season meeting between the Texas Tech and Texas basketball teams was over before it really began.

The Red Raiders (19-9, 8-7) came out lacking energy or zip and the Longhorns had both in abundances. Texas steamrolled much of the game before a late comeback attempt that was well too late to mean much of anything in a 81-69 loss for Texas Tech in United Supermarkets Arena.

More: Beer, water bottles thrown onto court during Texas Tech basketball home game vs. Texas

Texas annihilates Texas Tech 20 minutes

Where to even begin?

Texas Tech, by most metrics, has had one of the best offenses in the country all season long. That was nowhere to be found in the first 20 minutes of the game. Not only did Tech shoot 8-of-33 from the field overall, the Red Raiders converted just one of their 10 shots from 3-point range.

The Longhorns, meanwhile, built a 22-point lead on just a pair of 3s, most of the work being down attacking the paint against the likes of Robert Jennings, KyeRon Lindsay (for 45 seconds) and Eemeli Yalaho.

Dylan Disu (12 points) and Max Abmas (11) had as many points combined as Texas Tech did as a team.

Depth concerns continue to rear their head

Texas Tech's eight-man rotation was been a topic of fans for a while. For most of the year, the Red Raiders made due with it because, well, they had everyone available. Taking Warren Washington out of the game from the jump — he missed his third in the last four games nursing his foot injury — and the seams start to unravel.

Jennings has had moments where it looked like he's ready to take the big leap, but Tuesday was not one of them. Aside from getting beat in the paint on defense, he had a number of balls hit out of his hands as he tried to figure out the next move on offense.

Yalaho was the lone big man who showed much of a fight in the first half, but his limitations and slow feet make him a bit of a liability, which is why he hasn't been in the rotation with a healthy Washington.

Much ado about nothing

Students began camping out for this game late last week, hoping for a memorable game. They got one, but for all the wrong reasons.

Fans began exiting the arena with about 17 minutes left in regulation and Texas up by 29. This was before Tech got within 15 points 3:54 left. Between then, there were beers and waters thrown onto the court, an ejection for a Flagrant II by Brock Cunningham and multiple fans were escorted — and in one instance, forcefully carried — out of the building.

This is not one McCasland will be proud of for a number of reasons.

What's next?

The Red Raiders will be on the road for their next two games. First up is a trip to Morgantown for the only meeting of the regular season with West Virginia, a game that will tip at 5 p.m. and air on ESPN2. Then Texas Tech will head to Stillwater for a return contest against Oklahoma State on March 5.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech basketball lays giant egg in loss to Texas