Texas Basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from clobbering of No. 3 Kansas

Texas basketball took complete advantage of a huge opportunity to right the ship heading into the Big 12 Tournament this weekend. Interim head coach Rodney Terry and No. 9 ranked Texas were able to jump all over the No. 3 ranked Kansas Jayhawks and head coach Bill Self in a critical conference showdown in the Big 12 at the Moody Center in Austin on March 4.

Terry and the Longhorns held a double-digit lead for most of the game. Texas jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half and never really looked back.

In almost every phase of this game, the Longhorns dominated. Texas finally won a rebounding battle, and it held the lead for more than three-dozen minutes of the 40 in this game.

Maybe the biggest storyline in this game, though, was the ability of the Longhorns to take advantage of the advantage it had with its productive bench. Texas’ bench finally showed why it is the most productive bench in the Big 12, namely thanks to the duo of senior shooting guard/wing Sir’Jabari Rice and senior big man Christian Bishop.

Guards Tyrese Hunter and Sir’Jabari Rice lead Texas basketball to a clobbering of No. 3 Kansas in the finale

With that in mind, here’s a look at the two studs and one dud from Texas’ 75-58 win over Kansas on March 4.

Stud No. 1: Tyrese Hunter, G

We’ve seen a different version of sophomore guard Tyrese Hunter come to the forefront in the last four games than we did almost throughout the entire rest of the Big 12 slate this year. Hunter has turned it up a notch to close out the regular season, which bodes well for the way he is trending heading into the postseason.

This is a similar trend down the stretch that we saw from Hunter during his time with the Iowa State Cyclones last season. The reigning Big 12 Newcomer of the Year definitely had his fair share of ups and downs during the regular season at Iowa State last year. But he took his game to new heights in March.

Hunter is doing the same thing in the last few games for Texas. He’s scored at least 13 points in each of the last four games. And Hunter had one of his best two-way performances of the entire season in this double-digit win over Kansas.

He registered 20 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field, 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. Along with that, Hunter posted two rebounds and three assists.

It doesn’t matter if Hunter was able to get the job done mostly from the free-throw line and shooting from deep. If he’s able to provide this type of secondary scoring for the Longhorns, then this team will continue to be very dangerous in March and April.

Dud No. 1: Marcus Carr, G

The last three games weren’t very friendly to senior guard Marcus Carr. While Carr did manage to score in the double figures in two of the last three contests, he hasn’t done so at any sort of efficient clip.

Carr reached a new low in terms of offensive efficiency in the last few weeks in this win over the Jayhawks on March 4. He registered just six points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field, an abysmal 0-of-5 from beyond the arc, and 2-of-3 from the free-throw line. Carr just couldn’t find his spots once again shooting from the field.

This is now three straight games where Carr has shot no better than 30 percent from the field and worse than 25 percent from deep.

The good news was that Carr was at least able to find other ways to contribute to this win for the Longhorns on each end of the floor. He put up a team-high six assists, three rebounds, one block, and two steals. Despite his poor performance on the offensive end, Carr definitely had a positive impact on this game for the Longhorns with his disruptive perimeter defense.

He helped to limit junior Kansas guard DaJuan Harris, who was really productive against Texas the first time these two teams met this season, to just five points on 2-of-12 shooting from the field.

Carr also played a critical role in helping to facilitate the offense so that others had more open space to get high-percentage looks up to the basket.

All in all, Carr is at least finding other ways to contribute when he’s cold shooting from the field. As long as some of the other secondary scoring options for the Longhorns are productive, Carr finding other means to contribute is still big.

Stud No. 2: Sir’Jabari Rice, SF/SG

What a way for Rice to cap his one season playing for the Longhorns at the Moody Center!

It was an absolute joy being able to watch Rice spark this Longhorns offense as one of the best bench players in recent memory in the Big 12.

Rice had another magnificent offensive performance for Texas coming off the bench in this commanding win over the Jayhawks. He posted his fifth 20+ point outing off the bench this season, four of which have come in Big 12 play.

Rice is the only Big 12 reserve player to have four 20+ point outings in conference play this season.

He tied a game-high with 23 points on an efficient 9-of-14 shooting from the field, 2-of-6 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 3-of-3 from the free-throw line. Rice continued to find ways to get his offensive game going, even without the three-ball falling at a high clip. He got a few looks from the charity stripe and really put a lot of pressure on Kansas’ defense with his drives in this game.

Rice also found ways to contribute in other areas. He came up with a team-high seven boards, which was critical to helping Texas win the battle on the glass. Rice also racked up two assists, one block, and just one turnover on the afternoon.

I’ve kept saying throughout Big 12 play that if Rice keeps playing at this level coming off the bench, that is definitely a reason to believe that this team will be making a deep run in the Big Dance. Rice has the valuable experience and it all seems to be clicking in the last few months for him.