Marcus Carr scored a season-high 28 points and combined with Sir’Jabari Rice to produce all 15 of Texas’ points in overtime as the No. 7 Longhorns outlasted visiting Rice 87-81 on Monday to cap a tumultuous day in Austin, Texas.
Texas (8-1) played without coach Chris Beard, who was suspended without pay on Monday pending the investigation into a third-degree felony charge of family domestic assault filed against him earlier in the day after his overnight arrest and booking. Rodney Terry served as Texas’ acting coach.
The Longhorns trailed by four points at the half but gained the front on a 3-pointer by Carr with 17:16 left in regulation. From there, the game went back and forth and was tied at 70 after two free throws by Carr with 2:14 left.
Sir’Jabari Rice hit a layup on the break to put Texas up but the Owls countered with two free throws by Quincy Olivari with 1:32 to play. Both teams missed shots down the stretch, with a 3-pointer by Rice’s Alem Huseinovic at the buzzer clanging off the front rim to send the game to an extra period.
Texas scored the first seven points of overtime, with Sir’Jabari Rice accounting for five of them, and the Longhorns never let the Owls get closer than four points in the final minutes.
Timmy Allen added 15 points for Longhorns, with Dillon Mitchell scoring 12 and Sir’Jabari Rice hitting for 11 points.
Olivari poured in 28 points for the Owls (6-3), who had a five-game winning streak snapped. Travis Evee added 19 and Max Fiedler and Huseinovic had 10 apiece.
The Longhorns appeared shaken from the day’s news and Rice was more than ready to take advantage of the opportunity.
The Owls did almost everything right from the jump, building a 30-21 lead after a 3-pointer by Olivari with 4:02 to play in the first half. Rice eventually went up by 10 points before the Longhorns got a bucket and two free throws from Mitchell and two more from the charity stripe by Brock Cunningham to pull to within 33-29 at the break.
Olivari led all scorers with 14 points before halftime. Texas was led by Mitchell’s 10 points, but the team’s 29 points marked its lowest-scoring first half of the season.
–Field Level Media
