Senior G Marcus Carr announces return to Texas

The backcourt for the Texas Longhorns received a significant boost on Friday with the news that guard Marcus Carr will be back in burnt orange next season for one final effort among the collegiate ranks.

“Standard Set. Expectations remain high. Bar Risen and never been one to walk underneath.

Longhorn Nation, I have a promise to keep. See you in the Moody! - 5” Carr wrote on Instagram.

Taking advantage of his COVID-19 redshirt for a super senior season, Carr’s return to Austin solidifies one of Texas’ guard roles going forward with a streaky, experienced scorer, but also provides a some much-needed continuity for a team that noticeably struggled on that front last season with head coach Chris Beard being tasked with rebuilding the bulk of his roster.

Carr’s return adds to a roster that will also return Timmy Allen, Dylan Disu, Brock Cunningham, and Christian Bishop — a veteran bunch that will be joined by New Mexico State transfer guard Jabari Smith and a trio of highly-touted freshmen in five-star guard Arterio Morris, five-star forward Dillon Mitchell, and four-star guard Rowan Brumbaugh. While that group, without Carr, could have been a solid foundation for Beard to build upon through the portal, Carr’s return becomes the one of the most notable roster news of the offseason, given the impact he’ll be projected to have next season.

Now seemingly the early headliner of Texas’ 2022-23 roster, Carr will be looking to build upon an up-and-down first season in Austin, and potentially look the part of the dynamic scorer he was when he averaged just shy of 20 points per game at Minnesota in 2020-21. Last season, Carr’s numbers regressed notably, down eight points each time out to just 11.4 points per game, though that was still good for second best on the team behind only Timmy Allen (12.1).

Depending on the roster outlook, it’s quite possible that return to form comes naturally.

As is, Andrew Jones’ future with the program is unclear, while Courtney Ramey has elected to both test the NBA Draft waters and enter the NCAA transfer portal and Devin Askew entered the portal once again, so Carr could very well be Texas’ lone returning guard. More so, though, Carr’s more of a natural scoring guard who was effectively playing out of his comfort zone as a facilitator last season to account for the number of options on the team, including a pair of scoring guards in Jones and Ramey.

The roster could shape up to see Carr return to a role as a high-volume scorer alongside a capable and explosive ball handler like Morris. In that case, Carr’s final season in college could prove to be his best, and that’s ideal for Texas.