Rodney Terry: Texas is committed to winning despite adversity

No. 7 Texas defeated Stanford 72-62 Sunday afternoon in the Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge, improving to 9-1 on the season and notching its third consecutive victory.

Texas improves to 2-0 under interim head coach Rodney Terry since being named interim coach, and the fans inside the American Airlines Center were chanting his name after the win. His players have rallied around him and the interim headman discussed the resiliency his team has shown in the wake of head coach Chris Beard’s arrest last weekend.

“I’ve got a very resilient group,” Terry said postgame. “This group is going through a little adversity right now, but really good group, older group of guys. Really committed to winning and playing for one another.”

It was the efforts of Timmy Allen, Marcus Carr and Sir’Jabari Rice that led Texas past Stanford. Combining, for 47 of the Longhorns’ 72 points (65%), the trio were responsible for seven of Texas’ eight made three-pointers. No other Texas player scored in double figures.

Terry said it was the resilient mindset he’s helped instill into his players that willed them to victory down the stretch. Stanford cut the lead to as little as five points with just under five minutes to go, but Texas would not be denied.

Now, Texas will be looking to continue its win streak against a white-hot Louisiana team that is 10-1 on the season.

“We’ve got 40 really tough minutes ahead with a really good Louisiana team at our place,” Terry said “Again, our guys are really locked in right now in terms of trying to play hard and trying to play for one another. It’s going to be a really close game at our place.”

Tip-off between Texas and Louisiana is set for 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday on the Longhorn Network. Texas has a 95 percent chance of winning against the Ragin’ Cajuns, according to KenPom.com and ESPN’s Matchup Predictor.