3-3 vs. Texas
No school does less with more than the University of Texas. That has been true for the better part of the last two decades and it remained the case again in 2018-19.
Somehow, the Horns managed to miss the NCAA Tournament in both basketball and baseball, failing to even qualify for the Big 12 tournament in baseball thanks to a last place finish. But though Texas once again managed to underachieve in two of the three big sports, the Horns somehow went 3-3 against the Red Raiders.
The meetings between Tech and UT went as expected in football and basketball as the school with the top-10 program in both sports managed to go undefeated. Texas pulled out a last-minute 41-34 win over a Jett Duffey led Red Raider football team in Lubbock after Tech rallied from a 17-point deficit to tie the game late in the final period.
On the hardwood, Tech broke its 22-game losing streak in Austin with a 68-62 win in January. Matt Mooney exploded with 22 points to help Tech get off to its first ever 4-0 start in Big 12 play.
In March, Tech ran wild on the Horns in a 70-51 win at United Spirit Arena. It was the 8th-straight win for the Red Raiders as they finished the season with nine wins in-a-row to clinch the share of the Big 12 title.
But what made no sense was the three-game series the two schools played on the diamond in Austin. Somehow, the team that finished last in the league, Texas, managed to take the series against the team that won the conference.
UT took the first and third games by identical 4-3 scores while the Red Raiders claimed the middle game 3-0. The first Big 12 series of the year was an odd one as Tech dropped the set despite out-hitting the Horns 22-9 over the course of the weekend.
When you consider the difference in the athletic budgets of Texas Tech and UT, there should be no way for Tech to be able to match the Horns on the scoreboard in virtually any sport. But in the case of the school that does less with the most against the school that seems to annually outperform its finances, this year was an even draw. And yet, that somehow still feels a bit disappointing for Tech fans, which is a sign of just how far the Texas athletic department has fallen as a whole and how far Tech’s has risen.