Texas Survives Massive Upset With OT Win Over Rice In First Game Without Coach Chris Beard

Earlier Monday, Texas basketball coach Chris Beard was arrested and charged with assault on a family member, a third-degree felony in the state of Texas.

The school subsequently suspended Beard from the team without pay while the university and the police investigate the situation.

Assistant coach Rodney Terry took over as acting head coach in Beard's absence. The first opportunity to lead the team came quickly, as #7 Texas hosted Rice on Monday night. The Longhorns entered the game as massive 24-point favorites.

Chris Beard's absence affected Texas on the court

But losing their head coach the morning of a game apparently hurt the team quite a bit and they nearly suffered a huge upset.

In fact, Rice held a lead with under three minutes remaining. Texas tied it up and took the lead back before Rice tied it up again. Texas turned the ball over with under five seconds remaining and Rice had a chance to win the game.

But Rice's Alem Huseinovic missed a buzzer-beater to win the game in regulation and the game went to overtime tied at 72.

Texas finally broke away in the extra period.

They hung on to win, 87-81, after scoring 15 points in the extra five minutes. All 15 points were scored by Marcus Carr and Sir'Jabari Rice. Carr led the team with 28 points. Rice came off the bench to score 11 points, seven in overtime, to help his team beat the team that shares a name with him.

It will be interesting to see where Texas basketball goes from here. The details of Chris Beard's arrest are disturbing and it's unclear if he will coach the team again.

The Longhorns have been as highly-ranked as #2 in the country and is a team expected to do big things in March. They may now have to do them without their head coach.

If Monday night is any indication, that might be a tough task for Texas.

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to Outkick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named “Brady” because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.