Texas Tech basketball: 3 reasons Red Raiders were able to take down Texas

Marcus Carr was held scoreless

While Texas has a number of dangerous guards, players such as Andrew Jones, Courtney Ramey, and Jace Febres, the backcourt sparkplug for the Longhorns is Minnesota transfer, Marcus Carr who averages 11.1 points per game, second-most on the UT roster.  So the fact that he was held without a point on Saturday was a huge factor in the Red Raider triumph.

It was the first time this year that the dynamic guard was held scoreless.  That was a stark contrast to the previous meeting between these two teams when he was UT’s best player with 18 points and three assists.

In that game, Carr was the focal point of the Longhorn offense, especially in the second half, as Texas repeatedly isolated him at the top of the key and asked him to create offense on his own as he would take 12 field-goal attempts and shoot eight free throws while also handing out three assists.

On Saturday though, Carr was merely a ghost.  He fired off only six shots, three of which were from beyond the arc, something that is not his specialty.  Additionally, he didn’t create much offense for his teammates as he had only two assists.

Additionally, Texas’ other top scorer, Timmy Allen, who leads the team with 11.9 points per game, was held to just six points on 2-6 shooting in just 14 minutes of action.  Thus, the Horns’ top-scoring pair contributed 17 points fewer than their season averages.  That proved to be a massive factor in this game.