No. 7 Longhorns defend in Dallas, drop Stanford 72-62 in 2nd game under Rodney Terry

DALLAS (KXAN) — No. 7 Texas played stifling defense and made scoring runs when they needed them in a 72-62 win over Stanford on Sunday at the American Airlines Center.

The game, part of the Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge, was acting head coach Rodney Terry's second win in as many games since taking over for Chris Beard following his Dec. 12 arrest and subsequent suspension.

University officials have yet to announce Terry as the interim head coach while Beard is suspended "until further notice" as he faces a third-degree felony domestic assault charge. He has been considered the "acting" head coach for the past two games, both Texas wins.

Terry said the team is focused on playing hard as it tries to move forward.

"We've got a really resilient group," Terry told ESPN's Fran Fraschilla after the game. "They've perseveared under adversity. It's an older group and they're committed to winning and playing for one another."

As they've done all season, the Longhorns created turnovers and turn them into easy buckets on the offensive end. Coming into the game, Texas was No. 13 in the country in turnovers forced per game at 18.56, and they took the ball away from the Cardinal 18 times, scoring 19 points off of them. Texas held Stanford to 46 field goal attempts and outrebounded the Cardinal 33-32.

Longhorns forward Timmy Allen notched 15 points with five assists and four rebounds, but perhaps had the defensive play of the game late in the second half. With Stanford trying to claw back into the game trailing 69-62, Allen turned away a dunk attempt in transition by Stanford's Michael Jones with 0:55 left. Marcus Carr then hit three foul shots down the stretch to close it out.

Carr led the Longhorns with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting to go with five assists. Jabari Rice had another great game coming off the bench with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range.

An 8-0 run to start the second half was critical to the Longhorns' win. They led 31-28 at halftime, and after Stanford's Spencer Jones hit a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the half to tie the game, Texas made it 39-31 in less than a minute. Carr answered with a 3-pointer, then Tyrese Hunter hit a 3-pointer in transition. The flurry ended on a Dylan Disu fastbreak slam dunk with 18:47 left in the second half, and Texas took control of the game from there.

The Longhorns led by as much as 16 in the second half following a Hunter 3-pointer with 11:52 left, but Stanford cut the lead to three points after Michael O'Connell converted a 3-point play the hard way with 6:27 left. Carr and Allen combined to scored the final 14 points for the Longhorns and seal the win.

Texas (9-1) hosts Louisiana at 7 p.m. Wednesday.