Longhorns Take Down Stanford Cardinal in Pac 12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge

The Texas Longhorns used a strong offensive second half to pull away late from Stanford.

The No. 7 ranked Texas Longhorns pulled away in the second half to beat Stanford 72-62 in the Pac 12 Coast to Coast Challenge. Stanford was looking to pull a major upset and acquire their first power five wins of the season. The Longhorns used a solid defensive second half to overwhelm the Cardinal and move to 9-1 on the season.

This was the second game for new interim head coach Rodney Terry. Earlier this week head coach Chris Beard was arrested on felony assault charges. It has been an emotional roller coaster for the Longhorns and their program this week. Texas has done a nice job of taking care of what it can control on the court.

The game was a tail of two halves. In the first twenty minutes, Texas and Stanford were trading blows finished by a Sir' Jabari Rice-made layup to push the halftime lead to three. Rice had an excellent first half leading the Longhorns with ten points. The Longhorns once again used their defense physicality to force Stanford into difficult shots.

The first half was tightly contested for all twenty minutes. No team had a larger lead than six points. Texas led 24-19 was the largest of the half while Stanfords was 11-5. Both teams used strong defensive intensity to set the tone of the game early. Texas used

In the second half, the Longhorns turned on the offensive jets and scored 41 points. Leading the second-half surge was guard Marcus Carr finishing the game with 17 points. Texas was able to shoot the ball fairly well hitting eight three-pointers and 45% percent overall from the field. The Longhorns made sure forward Harrison Ingram was held in check with just five points.

Stanford guard Michael Jones shined scoring 15 points off the bench. The Cardinal provided a late second-half scare when a Michael Jones free throw cut the score to 61-57. The Longhorns prevailed in the last 4:39 outscoring the Cardinal 11-5.

Texas will have two more non-conference “buy” games before entering conference play. 

The No. 7 ranked Longhorns will likely stay at their current ranking after surviving two tests against Rice and Stanford this week. 

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You can follow Adam Glick on Twitter @adamglick39

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