Texas basketball makes Big 12 history in collapse vs. TCU

The unthinkable happened in the second half for first-year head coach Chris Beard and the four-seed Texas basketball in their first game in the Big 12 Tournament on March 10 against head coach Jamie Dixon and the TCU Horned Frogs. Texas really had a shot to come up with a dominant win in their first game in the Big 12 Tournament to head into the weekend on a high note.

But Beard and the Longhorns would wind up suffering one of the worst collapses in recent memory for this men’s hoops program in an eventual loss to the Horned Frogs. Texas blew an 18-point halftime lead over TCU in order to fall short by the final score of 65-60 and undergo an upset in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.

This game started well for the Longhorns, especially with one of the strongest first-half closeouts of the entire season to date. Texas went on a 20-3 run to head into the locker room at halftime with a ton of momentum over the Horned Frogs.

However, the second half was a struggle through and through for the Longhorns. The defense started to fade away and the offense was really hard to come by. That was especially the case for senior guard Marcus Carr, who had one of his worst performances in clutch time of the season so far.

But we’ll get back to the numbers Carr put up in this game a bit later.

Marcus Carr and Texas basketball collapse in a horrific loss to TCU in the Big 12 Tournament

Texas would get outscored 43-20 in the second half, essentially putting their effective first-half closeout six feet under. The trend of lackluster offense in clutch time also reared its ugly head again for the Longhorns, who didn’t score but one point in the final two and a half minutes of this game.

If not for a made free-throw from senior forward Christian Bishop, Texas would’ve gone the final 150 seconds of this game without scoring a single point. That just can’t happen in a game of this magnitude in the Big 12 Tournament.

Texas was getting the ball to Carr too often late in this game considering how effective senior forward Timmy Allen and senior guard Courtney Ramey were most of the way. Despite Carr shooting just 3-of-13 from the field and 1-of-6 from beyond the arc, he took three key field goal attempts in the final four minutes and missed all of them.

The ball needs to get to Ramey and Allen more often when Carr is struggling with his shot like he was in this game.

It really is a shame that the Longhorns couldn’t get the ball to the likes of Ramey and Allen more in clutch time. Allen finished up this game with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. He also gave Texas a team-high nine rebounds, two assists, three steals, one block, and two turnovers.

Meanwhile, Ramey had one of his best games in a while with 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. He also gave Texas nine rebounds, three assists, one steal, no blocks, and one turnover.

If Texas was able to get the ball to seniors that were more effective in this game such as Allen and Ramey, we might be looking at a different result than we are now. But Texas is now put in a spot where they could be facing a low six-seed (or potentially worse) on Selection Sunday. Texas also won’t be able to come close to defending their Big 12 Tournament crown this year.

Following this loss to the Horned Frogs, the Longhorns are now sitting on a three-game losing streak with a record of 21-11 (10-9 Big 12). We’ll now wait for the fate of the Longhorns on Selection Sunday on March 13.