Marcus Carr tied a career high with 41 points and also tied a school record with 10 3-pointers as No. 6 Texas defeated Texas A&M-Commerce 97-72 on Tuesday in Austin, Texas, in the Longhorns’ final tune-up for Big 12 Conference play.

Carr was the story in the first half, scoring 33 of his points and canning a career-high and school-record eight 3-pointers before halftime while outscoring Texas A&M-Commerce by himself.

Carr is the first Texas player to score at least 40 points in a game since Reggie Freeman racked up 43 in December 1996.

Freshmen Dillon Mitchell and Arterio Morris scored 16 and 12 points, respectively, in the Longhorns’ fifth straight win. Texas played its fourth game without coach Chris Beard, who is suspended indefinitely after being arrested on a felony domestic assault charge on Dec. 12.

C.J. Roberts led Texas A&M-Commerce (4-10) with 20 points, and Tommie Lewis added 19 off the bench. Kalen Williams and Demarcus Demonia scored 10 each.

The Longhorns (11-1) were up 14-5 after a three-point play by Timmy Allen at the 15:59 mark and then went nearly six minutes without scoring while allowing Texas A&M-Commerce to tie the game at 14-14. Texas missed seven shots and had four turnovers during that stretch, which ended when Allen’s second-chance jumper put the Longhorns back on top at 16-14.

The Longhorns eventually forged a 15-point advantage with 1:52 to play on Carr’s seventh 3-pointer and extended the lead to 47-29 at the break when he poured in his eighth with 41 seconds remaining.

Carr’s 33-point first-half output was the most in Texas basketball history for an opening half and tied a mark for any period, tying Jim Krivacs, who scored 33 points in the second half of a game in 1978. Carr was 8 of 11 on 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes and 11 of 15 from the floor.

Williams and Roberts led the Lions with six points each in the half.

The Longhorns stretched their lead to 32 points on Carr’s final two points, from the free-throw line, with 3:40 to play.

–Field Level Media