AUSTIN, TEXAS (AP) - Texas point guard J’Covan Brown said Friday that he didn’t write profane Twitter posts under his account that complained about getting pulled from the No. 3 Longhorns’ win over Oklahoma.
Brown said a cousin he declined to identify posted the offending tweets after the game and said he has apologized to his teammates. The Twitter account has been deactivated.
“I’ve got to take responsibility for all the negative things that he put,” on the account, Brown said. “I’m sorry for everything. I learned my lesson. It was a tough lesson to learn … the Twitter page is gone. He was making me look like a negative person.”
Texas (21-3) plays Baylor (16-7) at home on Saturday.
Brown played only 16 minutes and didn’t score in the 68-52 win over Oklahoma on Wednesday night. Brown averages 9.0 points and was the catalyst behind a late surge in Texas’ 76-60 win over Texas Tech just a few days earlier.
Texas senior forward Gary Johnson said Brown’s teammates have accepted his explanation and support him.
“His actions on the court and off the court don’t show what was said on his Twitter page,” Johnson said. “Obviously, he’s the most unselfish player on this team. He sacrifices a lot day in and day out for this team.”
A gifted offensive player who sometimes dazzles, Brown also has drawn attention for his visible frustration a few times this season when coach Rick Barnes has pulled him off the court.
Barnes said the coach and player talked about the Twitter posts on the plane ride home Thursday morning.
Barnes allows his players to have social media accounts, but warns them about being careful what they, or anyone else, posts under their name.
“There’s always somebody watching,” Barnes said. “We want them to know they have a responsibility not only to themselves and their family, but to the university and their teammates.
“We believe in freedom of speech,” Barnes said. “I don’t think real discipline is making a bunch of rules and hiding behind rules.”
Brown said he is generally uninterested in social media but allowed the cousin to open the Twitter account that purported to be him. Brown said the cousin apologized to him.
“Most of the time he just put our games up there and how I did,” Brown said. “He got caught up in the moment.”
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