Texas guard Marcus Carr reveals secret to success of half-court shot
Texas guard Marcus Carr delivered one of the best moments of Friday’s NCAA Tournament when he nailed a half-court shot to end the first half against Virginia Tech. Carr pulled up well behind the half-court line, banking in the shot to send the Longhorns into halftime with a 34-32 lead.
Texas carried that momentum over into the second half to finish with an 81-73 victory. In a postgame interview with ESPN’s Adam Rittenburg, Marcus Carr revealed that he never leaves the gym without taking a half-court shot, no matter how long it takes him. That preparation gave him the belief in himself to make his attempt against the Hokies.
“I let it go with confidence,” Carr said. “I wasn’t really surprised when it went in.”
Carr nearly finished with a double-double in the win, scoring 15 points to go along with nine assists. Longhorns coach Chris Beard told Rittenburg after the game that, though he doesn’t want to make it seem easy, he has seen the guard hit that shot many times before.
“That’s not a 50% shot, but for Marcus, it might be a 20% shot,” Beard said.
A transfer from Minnesota, Carr has made a big impact for the Longhorns this season. The 6-foot-2 guard has started 30 games and is averaging 10.9 points and 3.2 assists in 30.6 minutes per game.
As a team, Texas shot a lights-out 52.6% from 3-point range. Guard Andrew Jones was particularly lethal, finishing with a team-high 21 points on 5-for-7 from deep. It was that marksmanship, along with 47 second-half points, that pushed the Longhorns to the win. At one point in the second half, Texas held Virginia Tech without a field goal for more than five minutes. They saw their lead grow as large as 17 points before the Hokies made a small comeback attempt in the game’s final minutes.
The Longhorns now advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where they will face three-seeded Purdue on Sunday. The Boilermakers are coming off of a convincing 78-56 victory against Yale in the round of 64, and will certainly be a tough out. Tip time for that contest will be announced at the conclusion of Friday’s first round games, and the winner will advance to the Sweet Sixteen.