Texas Basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from tight win over No. 7 Creighton

Stud No. 2: Marcus Carr, G

Another player that’s nice to see show up on the studs list in a big game early this season is senior guard Marcus Carr.

While Allen got off to a slow start this season and really found his strides in this game, Carr continued his hot streak offensively. Carr was a much-needed offensive spark for the Longhorns on a night where standout sophomore guard Tyrese Hunter wasn’t his usual self down the stretch.

Granted, that could’ve had something to do with the lower-body injury that Hunter suffered early in the second half.

Despite the injury, Hunter still tied a team-high with 33 minutes played in this game along with Carr. These two guards still were extremely tough on both ends of the floor, helping to lock down the win in the end.

I do have more praise for the production and efficiency that Carr put on display in this one compared to Hunter. Carr put up a team-high 17 points on 7-of-20 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 from beyond the arc. This wasn’t necessarily the most efficient shooting night in total for Carr, but he got his. And he helped keep this Texas offense going at a few points when Creighton was starting to go on runs.

A huge factor for Carr was the fact that he managed the basketball well. He didn’t turn the ball over a single time while putting up five assists and five rebounds. This is just the second time in the last two seasons that Carr put up at least five assists without a single turnover in a game.

One problem I did have in this game was the lack of free throws for Carr. The senior guard drew plenty of contact in the lane but only got to the charity stripe once. You’d like to see the refs afford a little bit more respect to an experienced all-conference guard such as Carr in these situations.