Three Point Play: Texas defeats Stanford, pulls away late to win 72-62

The second game with Rodney Terry as the acting head coach of the Longhorns saw No. 7 Texas head just a few hours north to Dallas for a neutral site game against Stanford. After the shocking events of last week, Monday’s uneven performance against Rice was not something that came as a shock.

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But for the Cardinal, Terry and his team had five days to prepare for Texas’ last power conference opponent before Big 12 play begins in just over two weeks. Texas used their off day on Tuesday to process everything before returning to work on Wednesday to prepare for Stanford, moving further and further from an emotional day and closer to playing another game.

Texas and Stanford exchanged leads in the part of the first half, before the Longhorns took the lead for good with 5:23 left in the opening 20 minutes. The Longhorns built a lead as large as 16, survived a 15-3 run by the Cardinal, and closed out a 72-62 win to improve to 9-1.

Carr, Allen, Rice pace the offense

It’s often overlooked that despite one year of experience plus NCAA tournament wins, Tyrese Hunter is still what would qualify as a young player. In recent weeks, he’s shown more signs of being a young player than signs of being the All-Big 12 guard he was last season.

He showed those young player signs again on Sunday, scoring 8 points on 3-of-1 shooting in 31 minutes, with a 5-to-3 assist to turnover ratio.

With Hunter going through a sophomore slump-likestretch, Texas’ experienced players have helped the Longhorns tremendously in the last two games.

Marcus Carr helped carry the offensive and scoring load against Stanford with a game-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, with five assists to one turnover. He was essential in closing out the win even after Stanford turned a 58-42 game into a 59-56 game with 6:27 remaining, scoring 10 of the Longhorns’ final 16 points.

Offense hasn’t come easy to Timmy Allen this season, but he found a groove that had him looking more like the Allen of last season. He scored 15 points on an identical-to-Carr 6-of-13 shooting, adding four rebounds, five assists, and even a key block in the final minutes.

Sir’Jabari Rice continued to be an important contributor off the bench, scoring 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-5 from three. He has a shot-fake that has fooled almost every defender this year, and plays a multi-faceted role in the offense.

Texas will need Hunter to play up to his 2021-22 standards if they want to contend for a Big 12 title, but games like Sunday’s from Carr, Allen, and Rice do well to cover for Texas’ point guard against struggling teams.

The statistical edge

Texas had 63 possessions, one fewer than the Cardinal. The Horns scored 32 times, while Stanford scored 27 points and were held under a point per possession.

63 possessions is a handful fewer than what the program would want on a game-to-game basis, but Texas still made the most of those possessions. Texas had eight turnovers all game compared to the 18 from the Cardinal. Texas scored 19 points off those turnovers.

The biggest chasm between the two teams was in fast break points. Texas had 18 points in transition, Stanford just three.

The Longhorns wanted to run this season not just because they can score in transition, but also because they are comfortable defending in transition. Stanford doesn’t play with a ton of pace, but in the times they tried to on Sunday, the Longhorns made sure there was nothing there.

Texas can shoot… from close range

Texas exited the game ranked No. 313 in the country in three-point shooting with a 29.8 percent mark.

They rank No. 29 in the country in overall field goal percentage at 49 percent.

Texas isn’t just efficient inside the arc, the Longhorns are elite. According to TeamRankings.com, Texas is No. 6 in the country in two-point shooting with a 59.8 percent mark

Some of that is due to Dillon Mitchell’s dunking ability. Some of that is due to Texas ability to drive the lane against feeble opponents.

But, Texas has shot very well from inside the arc this year, and it’s been a major reason behind the 9-1 start. It was the case again on Sunday, as Texas shot 49 percent from inside the arc.