Nijel Pack calls Tyrese Hunter, Marcus Carr 'really good guards'

Sunday’s Elite Eight matchup between Texas and Miami is going to be a game of excellent guard play. On the Longhorns side, Tyrese Hunter and Marcus Carr lead one of the best backcourts in the Big 12 — if not the entire conference.

Nijel Pack knows his Hurricanes teammates will be in for a battle.

“Both of those guys are really good guards,” Pack said. “Playing against them was a challenge definitely. They’re definitely have the credit they have deserved. So it’s going to be a great game with the great guards we have and the great guards they have.”

Carr is a super senior who has played for three different Power Five programs in Pitt, Minnesota and now Texas. This is his second year playing for the Longhorns and he is having arguably his best season as a college player. He earned a spot on the All-Big 12 First Team, the first Texas player to do so since the 2015-16 season.

The native of Canada is averaging a team-high 15.8 points per game on 42.9% shooting, which is a career high. He also averages 4.1 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.

Like Carr, Hunter also transferred to Texas. After spending last season at Iowa State where he won Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Hunter made the move all the way down I-35 to Austin to play for the Longhorns.

He is third on the team with 10.4 points, 2.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game.

“It’s going to come down to getting stops definitely and getting rebounds,” Pack said. “We know how good of a team they are, but if we can play team defense and crowd the ball and things like that and don’t let them do the things they like to do, I think we can be really successful.”

Tyrese Hunter, Marcus Carr aren’t the only impact guards in the game

Miami also has some outstanding guard play that should make Sunday’s game exciting to watch.

Isaiah Wong became the second Hurricanes player in program history after Shane Larkin to win ACC Player of the Year. Wong was also named to the All-ACC first team while Jordan Miller was named to the All-ACC second team.

Wong is scoring 16.3 points per game while also dishing out 3.3 assists, grabbing 4.5 rebounds and swiping 1.3 steals. Miller is right behind him with 15.1 points per game, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals of his own.

And while he didn’t earn any All-ACC honors, Nijel Pack is also a great guard. He earned a spot on the All-Big 12 first team last year and is averaging 13.8 points per game this season.