Rodney Terry, acting UT head coach following Chris Beard's arrest, leans on veterans for 87-81 win

Members of the Texas Longhorns basketball program woke up to the news on Monday morning that their head coach, Chris Beard, had been arrested by Austin Police Department on felony domestic assault charges.

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Bits and pieces of information trickled out on Monday. First, the Texas athletic department put out a brief acknowledgement of Beard’s situation just before 9 a.m. Then, almost nine hours later at 5:34 p.m., the University of Texas told the world that Beard had been suspended indefinitely without pay by the school.

Associate head coach Rodney Terry learned just after 7 a.m. about Beard’s arrest. Then during shootaround less than two hours until tipoff, he was told by athletic director Chris Del Conte he would be the Longhorns’ acting head coach against the Rice Owls.

Terry’s first game acting as a head coach in over a year and a half did not produce the cleanest of performances from the Longhorns. But thanks to veteran production headlined by Marcus Carr’s 28 points, a personal best during his time in burnt orange, Texas survived the Rice Owls’ upset bid in overtime and escaped with an 87-81 win.

“Today was a very difficult day for our program, a unique day.” Terry said. “One that started this morning about 7 a.m. Once we got the news of that, our focus and my focus was with our players and about our program.”

He thanked the experienced coaching staff that he had to step in and lead on short notice. He mentioned he tried to express to his players, especially his veterans, the need to control what they could control.

The control in the early portions of the game was exhibited by the Rice Owls. Content to play in the half-court, Rice entered halftime with a 33-29 lead. Quincy Olivari scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. The Owls had zero fastbreak points, playing at a snail’s pace with poise. They were 13-of-33 in the first half, cutting to the basket and out-hustling the Longhorns.

“My message to our guys was no matter what kind of start we get off to, whether it’s a good start or bad start, we’re going to work the game for 40 minutes,” Terry said. “We’re going to work on playing with urgency.”

Another message from Terry that came prior to tipoff was disseminated specifically to his seven veteran players. Terry didn’t refer to them as kids in his postgame press conference, he called them young adults and mentioned this was an opportunity for them to overcome something they’ll face on the court this year and off the court once their careers are done.

“There’s going to be things like this the rest of your life,” Terry said. “It’s how you deal with them right now. Adapt and adjust. At the end of the day, we have a job to do.”

Texas responded with urgency and took its first lead of the game thanks to a Carr three-pointer with 17:16 remaining. Timmy Allen chipped in eight points in the second half on 4-of-5 shooting.

Texas still didn’t play the prettiest of halves, and continued to struggle with defensive rotations no matter who was on the floor.

Owl guards Olivari and Travis Evee both found their scoring stroke in the second 20 minutes to keep Rice in the thick of contest. They combined to shoot 9-for-18 from the field in the second half.

The end was back and forth, with both teams trading the lead after the under-four timeout. Rice had a chance to win at the end but couldn’t convert the look and the game went to overtime. After 80 minutes in two days, plus the backdrop of the arrest of their head coach, the Longhorns had five more minutes of basketball to play.

In overtime, the previously tepid Sir’Jabari Rice joined Carr to take control of the game. Rice scored seven points in the extra period, while Carr scored eight to account for all 15 points of Texas’ overtime production. The Owls couldn’t find traction from three, and Texas hit the requisite free throws to close out the game.

“You’re not prepared for anything like this,” Terry said. “You don’t wish anything like this on anyone. But again, I thought our guys persevered through a tough situation today.”

That was true for Terry, too. He mentioned Beard’s conversations with him that brought him back to Austin centered around Terry being “co-head coach.” He was the head coach Monday, and said he felt prepared for the role.

earned it, together 🤘 pic.twitter.com/1TkrWD7RVN

— Texas Men’s Basketball (@TexasMBB) December 13, 2022

“I game plan for every ball game, so every ball game I’m closely involved,” Terry said.

After the whirlwind of Monday, Terry said the team will have the day off to rest and recharge. What’s next for Texas men’s basketball isn’t quite clear. Terry said he hasn’t had any conversations with Beard, who was released from jail Monday afternoon. He also said he hasn’t had conversations with UT administration about what his role would be going forward in the wake of Beard’s suspension.

A coaching veteran with 10 seasons of both head coaching experience and UT assistant experience, Terry found what he needed from his veterans to squeak by the Owls to end what was an embarrassing day off-the-court for Texas basketball with a hard-fought victory on the Moody Center hardwood.