Shooting touch returns as Carr looks to fit in
AUSTIN — There was never any uncertainty surrounding Marcus Carr's role at Minnesota last season.
The 6-2 guard led the Golden Gophers in points (19.4), field goal attempts (15.6), free throw attempts (6.7) and assists (4.9) per game. Everything flowed through the All-big Ten junior, a twitchy playmaker and streaky shooter who reached the 20point threshold 12 times in 31 games.
But the Gophers finished outside NCAA Tournament contention at 14-15, bringing Carr's collective collegiate record to 37-55 across three seasons. (He played for Pittsburgh in 2017-18 before transferring to Minnesota.)
Now six games into his first and only campaign at Texas, Carr's third program in five years, the coveted transfer is still trying to decipher how all the pieces snap together.
No. 7 Texas' collection of talent is vast, and the Ontario native no longer needs to be a lone pillar trying to prop up the whole operation. But coach Chris Beard also wants Carr to maintain an edge, keep his finger ready to flip the switch and reactivate that snarling take-on-all-comers mindset he developed up north.
It's been a slow, taxing educational process. Beard praised Carr's asphyxiating defense during the Longhorns' early stretch of games, particularly during a 68-44 win over California Baptist on Nov. 24, but he looked shaky on offense.
Heading into Monday's retro game at Gregory Gymnasium against Sam Houston State, Carr was averaging 6.4 points on 35.3 percent shooting. He'd hit just 3 of 13 3s and had accumulated more turnovers (12) than free throw attempts (nine).
The plan, Bearkats coach Jason Hooten said, was to blockade the paint and dare Carr to hoist from deep. It worked at first as a hesitant Carr bricked a pair of open 3s in the game's opening seven minutes. Then the whole scheme backfired spectacularly.
Carr floated in one high-arching triple then buried a long 2 on consecutive possessions.
Now operating with confidence, he took hold of the game during a 10-0 closing run, sandwiching an acrobatic push shot in the lane between a pair of nettickling 3s to build a 38-28 halftime lead.
Carr finished off Monday's 7357 win with a season- and gamehigh 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting, four assists and three rebounds. He went 4 of 7 from deep and 3 of 4 from the line.
He looked, really for the first time in burnt orange, like Marcus Carr.
“It's nice to see the ball go in the net,” Carr said Monday. “But a big part of the reason why I came here is because of coaching staff and the accountability I think they're gonna hold me to, and a lot of that came on the defensive end. So, it definitely has been a huge emphasis for me, just making sure I'm the best player I can be on that side of the ball.
“My coaches and my teammates continue to have confidence in me and they knew that the ball would drop one day and tonight just happened to be that night.”
Even with nine new players still acclimating to one another, Texas (5-1) ranks No. 18 in offensive efficiency (112.6) and No. 22 in defensive efficiency (91.2) in the nation, per Kenpom.com. And one of those talented newbies, Vanderbilt transfer forward Dylan Disu, has yet to play as he works back from a knee injury.
Capable ball handlers like senior guard Courtney Ramey, Utah transfer forward Timmy Allen, sixth-year guard Andrew Jones and Kentucky transfer guard Devin Askew can help
share the load with Carr. Those five combined for 15 of Texas' 16 assists against Sam Houston State, and so far the Longhorns have assisted on 59.1 percent of their makes, up from an even 50 percent during previous coach Shaka Smart's final season.
“Marcus is obviously a guy that one day, he'll be asked to do a certain job for a paycheck,” Beard said in September. “Whether that's to run a team as a pass-first guy, he can certainly do that. He's more than a willing passer; he's a facilitator, he's a playmaker. But he can also score the ball and his numbers show that, so we'll need both.”
Carr won't need to sniff 20 points every night for Texas to succeed. But against the behemoths like Kansas and Baylor and whoever awaits in the NCAA Tournament, the Longhorns are probably going to need some of that old-school Marcus Carr on the court.
“It's a beautiful part of our offense, you know, we spread it out,” Carr explained Monday. “We all know the talent this team has and the ability of our players. Any given night it's going to be hard to stop all of us, so tonight just happened to be my night. Like I said, coach and my teammates never stopped believing, never stopped giving me confidence. So this wasn't a today thing, it's an everyday thing.”