Texas basketball picked third in Big 12 preseason poll

In a preseason poll of the league’s coaches, the Texas Longhorns were selected to finish third in the Big 12, the conference announced on Thursday.

Baylor finished first, receiving five first-place votes among 77 votes overall, while Kansas tallied four first-place votes and 73 points. Texas received one first-place vote and 64 points with TCU, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Iowa State, West Virginia, and Kansas State rounding out the conference rankings.

On Wednesday, senior forward Timmy Allen and senior guard Marcus Carr were named to the preseason All-Big 12 team and Iowa State sophomore transfer guard Tyrese Hunter was named honorable mention All-Big 12. With a tie in the voting, Allen and Carr are two of the six players on the preseason All-Big 12 team chosen by the coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own players.

A Utah transfer, Allen started every game last season, the only Texas player to do so, leading the team in scoring (12.1 ppg), rebounding (6.4 rpg), and steals (42) while ranking second in assists (71) and third in minutes played (29.0 mpg). He hit 49.3-percent of his attempts from the floor (150-304) and 73.1-percent of his attempts from the free throw line (106-145) last season.

A Minnesota transfer, Carr played in all 34 games, starting 32 games and leading the team in assists (3.4 apg) and minutes (30.8 mpg) while finishing second in scoring (11.4 ppg) and fourth in steals (32). Carr notched a 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio (117-64) and 21 double-digit scoring performances.

Ranked as the No. 2 transfer nationally by 247Sports, Hunter earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors and finishing as a finalist for both the Kyle Macy Award (top freshman in Division I) and Lefty Driesell Award (nation’s top defender) while starting all 35 games and leading the Cyclones in assists (4.9 apg) and steals (71) and ranking second in scoring (11.0 ppg) and minutes (32.1 mpg).

Texas returns five rotational players from last year’s 21-12 team that went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament while adding Hunter and New Mexico state transfer guard Jabari Rice from the portal and a four-man signing class that includes five-star forward Dillon Mitchell and five-star guard Arterio Morris.

An exhibition game against Arkansas on Oct. 29 opens the Moody Center for Texas ahead of the season opener against UTEP on Nov. 7.