Texas Basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from clutch win over Penn State

Dud No. 1: Marcus Carr, G

I was not expecting the dud spot on this list to be decided between senior guard Marcus Carr and senior shooting guard/wing Sir’Jabari Rice. But the two super seniors wound up having slow nights shooting from the field, putting more pressure on Texas’ paint scoring.

Carr and Rice both shot 4-of-11 from the field, roughly around just 36 percent. They also combined to shoot a woeful 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.

These two not finding their shot from deep was one of the biggest reasons why the Longhorns struggled so much with their three-point shooting.

Ultimately, though, the reason why this dud spot on the list goes to Carr over Rice was the one late sequence in the second half where the senior guard put Penn State back in the game after being down seven.

Carr wound up missing the front end of a one-and-one that could’ve put the Nittany Lions away with less than a minute to go in the game. Penn State took the rebound and knocked down a three-pointer, which also got them to the free-throw line thanks to a Carr foul.

Penn State knocked down the free throw to complete the four-point play, which narrowed Texas’ lead from seven points to three in the span of just a few seconds on the scoreboard.

The good news was that Carr was able to salt the game for the Longhorns with a couple of clutch free throws just after that unfortunate sequence. Hopefully, that ending to this game will be something that lifts Carr heading into the Sweet 16.