Marcus Carr Erupts for 41 Points, Longhorns Cruise Past Texas A&M-Commerce
Marcus Carr, welcome to history.
Behind 41 points from Carr, the most by a Texas Longhorns player since Reggie Freeman in 1996, No. 6 Texas cruised past the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions for a 97-72 win at Moody Center Tuesday night.
Carr, who tied a Longhorns single-game record for points in a half with 33 in the first half, also tied a program-high 10 3-pointers on 15 attempts.
Texas also got steady scoring contributions from Dillon Mitchell (16 points, five rebounds) Arterio Morris (12 points) and Christian Bishop (nine points).
The Longhorns jumped out to a 14-5 lead behind seven points from Carr amid a 9-0 run. But the Lions put together a 9-0 run of their own to tie the game at 14-14 midway through the first half.
The game of back-and-forth runs continued. But it quickly became Marcus Carr vs. Texas A&M-Commerce.
Carr became scorching hot from all over the floor, as he scored 15 straight points for Texas and was suddenly already up to 22 points before the five-minute mark of the first half.
Tyrese Hunter ended Carr's 1 vs. 5 run with a layup, a basket that his hot-handed backcourt mate assisted him on.
But Carr's two-minute "cold spell" was short-lived, as he nailed three more triples to bring his first-half total to eight in what was a historic 20 minutes of play. He tied the Texas single-game program record for points in a half, as he was single-handedly out-scoring the Lions 33-29. Texas led 47-29 headed into the locker room.
The scoring started to balance out among the rest of the roster while Carr started to fall back down to Earth.
It then became a dunk fest for the Horns. Bishop, Mitchell and Morris all rocked the rim and helped Texas continue to build a comfortable lead.
Carr got his first bucket of the second half on yet another triple at the 10:27 mark. He followed this up a few minutes later with his 10th 3, which tied the program record.
But despite Carr's crazy night, Morris had arguably the play of the night with a vicious one-handed slam in transition as Texas had built a 30-point lead.
The Longhorns continued to cruise the rest of the way, and will now get set for Big 12 play with a New Year's Eve matchup against the Oklahoma Sooner in Norman on Saturday.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
Want to see the Horns in action? Get your Texas Longhorns game tickets from SI Tickets here!
Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Longhorns? Click Here to Subscribe to the Longhorns Country Newsletter
Want even more Texas Longhorns? Check out the SI.com team page here
Follow Longhorns Country on Twitter and Facebook.
Make sure to subscribe to the Longhorns Country Podcast today! Click here To Listen.
