Texas Basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from back and forth win over Stanford

Acting head coach Rodney Terry and No. 7 ranked Texas basketball got a more comfortable win on Dec. 18 than in the prior game for this team. Texas was able to take down the Stanford Cardinal on Dec. 18 in the PAC-12 Coast to Coast Challenge by a double-digit margin.

Terry and the Longhorns were able to show out defensively and get a good offensive push in the second half to beat a battle-tested Stanford team to round out the weekend. Texas controlled this game most of the way to the tune of a win by the final score of 72-62.

At one point in this game, the Longhorns were playing it pretty close to the vest, taking a slim 31-28 lead into the locker room at halftime. But Texas was able to effectively play at a faster pace in the second half, taking down Stanford by a margin of seven points to seal the win.

Texas ran a free-flowing offense and put up a disruptive wall on defense on the perimeter to control the pace of this game. Behind a trio of Longhorns players that each put up a team-high five assists, Texas outpaced Stanford in the assist department by a margin of 22-15.

Meanwhile, Texas forced a whopping 18 turnovers from the Cardinal to get an edge in that department by a margin of 18-8. The combination of winning the battle in the assist and turnover departments were driving factors to get Texas the win over Stanford on Dec. 18.

With that in mind, here’s a look at two studs and one dud from the Longhorns’ 10-point win over the Cardinal.

Studs and one dud from Texas basketball’s double-digit win over Stanford

Stud No. 1: Timmy Allen, F

The hot streak continues for senior forward Timmy Allen this weekend. Allen was a force to be reckoned with in multiple phases of the game for the fifth contest in a row. He essentially played a perfect game in terms of his efficiency in distributing the basketball. Allen put up five assists and no turnovers en route to his first performance of the regular season without coughing up the ball a single time.

Allen also gave the Longhorns 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, 0-of-1 from beyond the arc, and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Add in Allen’s four rebounds, two blocks, and one steal, and you get another impactful outing from the fifth-year forward that is seeing him find his game at the right time.

Dud No. 1: Tyrese Hunter, G

This part of the list could’ve gone to either senior big man Christian Bishop or sophomore guard Tyrese Hunter. Both Bishop and Hunter were underwhelming for the Longhorns in this win over Stanford.

But I have to give this nod yet again to Hunter as he had trouble finding his game on either end of the floor. While Hunter did tie a team-high with five assists, that part of this game for him was watered down by the fact that he turned the ball over three times. Hunter’s three turnovers were a team-high in this game.

To make matters worse, Hunter shot just 3-of-11 from the field, good for just eight points. This is his fourth game shooting less than 43 percent from the field and his third straight outing scoring in the single digits.

It looks like a combination of shooting woes, lower usage, and lingering bumps and bruises are limiting Hunter’s effectiveness on the offensive end. After attempting at least eight field goals in each of the first seven games of the regular season, Hunter had just 4.5 field goal attempts per game in the two prior outings.

I would like to see Terry and the Longhorns give Hunter the confidence to let it fly in the next couple of games, given that those outings come against the two weakest opponents on the schedule for the rest of the regular season.

All in all, it’s obviously not good to see Hunter in the dud spot on this list for the third straight game. He’s clearly in a funk of late and he’ll only have a couple of more chances to find his game before Big 12 play begins.

Stud No. 2: Marcus Carr, G

The final stud spot on the list was nearly a tie between senior guard Marcus Carr and senior shooting guard/wing Sir’Jabari Rice.

It is the way that Carr took over this game late that got him the edge over Rice in the end. Carr was amazing in this game again for the Longhorns, helping this team close out a win that is imperative for Terry’s squad to keep trending up heading into conference play in a couple of weeks.

Carr played a team-high 33 minutes in this win over Stanford, where he really came alive late offensively. He registered a game-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, 2-of-6 from beyond the arc, and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line.

The mid-range game for Carr provided a spark in the second half for this entire team. Carr was hitting some clutch baskets late that helped Texas keep a comfortable lead over Stanford.

But Carr contributed in more ways than one to this win over Stanford. He put up three rebounds, five assists, one steal, and just one turnover.

This is the second consecutive game that Carr was amazing for the Longhorns. He now has a whopping 45 points, six rebounds, eight assists, two steals, and four turnovers while shooting around 50 percent from the field in the last two games combined. That is the best two-game scoring stretch for Carr as a member of the Burnt Orange.