Knight’s war of the words

Monday, Dec. 19, 2005 | 8:56 a.m.

Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight was his usually fiery self Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, blasting officials and his own players with equal impunity. Afterward, Knight shook UNLV coach Lon Kruger's hand at midcourt.

Knight turned, walked back along his bench and stopped. He turned around again, searched for someone and then strode back to midcourt with a purpose.

Tom O'Neill, the official whom Knight had badgered and called "Mack" all night, might have been in his crosshairs. Or one of the other refs. Or one of the Red Raiders might have been lingering, fraternizing with the enemy.

Instead, Knight bolted for UNLV senior forward Louis Amundson, who had damaged Texas Tech with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Knight told Amundson how much he enjoyed watching him play and congratulated him on his improvements.

"Wow," Amundson said in an arena tunnel after UNLV's 84-73 victory. "He just came up to me and said I've developed into an exciting player. Acknowledgment is great anytime you get it, but especially coming from him."

That starkly contrasted to Knight's previous two hours, when officials and his players made him suffer. He burned from start to finish. Anyone sitting near Knight had best be prepared for a show.

His son, Pat, the heir to The General's throne in Lubbock, Texas, was always a step away from Knight to ensure that no lines were crossed, no battles were escalated and no ejections were pondered.

It took less than two minutes for Knight to explode. UNLV kept possession after a missed shot and the shot clock was reset to 35 seconds. Knight claimed the missed shot hadn't touched the rim, so a new shot clock wasn't necessary.

Rebels guard Michael Umeh ended up hitting a 3-point shot. Knight stormed down the sideline, making red-hot eye contact with anyone who dared to look back.

"That shot didn't hit the rim!" he blared. "You can't change the shot clock on that!"

Knight fumed the rest of the way. Often, he sat in his chair and pointed at his bench after timeout huddles for 10 to 20 seconds, with his head in one hand or both.

"You haven't even been in a minute and you're (bleeping) up!" he yelled at Dior Lowhorn.

"You act like I'm not (bleeping) there!" barked Knight, upon returning to his seat after O'Neill stood stone-faced through a mini-berating.

Tech's Darryl Dora might have gotten the worst of it.

"He's only scored seven points! (Bleep!) Same old (bleep)!" Knight hollered at Dora as he yanked him from the game after an Amundson flurry.

Ninety seconds later, after a timeout as five Red Raiders walked back onto the court, Knight again laid into Dora at the far end of the bench. When Knight returned to his seat, he turned to glare at Dora.

On this night, Amundson got the best of Knight.

"It's got to be tough being Bobby Knight," Amundson said. "I mean, everywhere he goes, fans are on him. But that's how he coaches. You can't argue with his record. He's one of the all-time best, and it's great to be acknowledged by him."

Rob Miech can be reached at 259-4087 or at miech@lasvegassun.com.