With six seconds left in a highly entertaining game against Olympiacos, Virtus trailed 94-93. After an Alex Mumbru timeout, the final possession went to Marcus Carr. Virtus does not have many EuroLeague veterans on its roster. Daniel Hackett is the most experienced, but he was not on the floor at the time. Derrick Alston might have seemed like another option, but the ball went to a 27-year-old EuroLeague rookie whose first attempt at European basketball had ended less than three years earlier, when Aris decided to replace him by December.
Carr went at Codi Miller-McIntyre, rose for a difficult three and hit the game-winner for a 96-94 victory over the reigning European champions. He certainly had some extra motivation to make that shot, because on the previous possession Jean Montero had driven toward the basket and finished a bank shot over Carr.
Only coach Mumbru knows whether the original plan was for the ball to end up in Carr’s hands. The Canadian finished with 22 points and 10 assists in 24 minutes, making five of his eight three-point attempts in just his third EuroLeague appearance. The performance immediately put Carr in the EuroLeague spotlight, especially because it came against the reigning champions.
Virtus had lost its first two games, the second against Olimpia Milano essentially on the final shot, after previously going through a grinding battle with Fenerbahce in Istanbul. After the game, Carr spoke primarily about wanting to deliver a win for teammates who, after everything they had been through over the previous few days, deserved it.
Carr Reached the EuroLeague at 27, Not as a Prospect
At 27, Carr cannot be described as a young prospect, but his performances will now be watched with even greater attention.
He played at Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Texas, appearing in 164 NCAA games and finishing his college career with 2,350 points and 747 assists. In his final season at Texas, he reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. He was an experienced guard who had spent plenty of time with the ball in his hands, but he went undrafted in 2023.
His first professional opportunity came with Aris. In the EuroCup, he played 11 games and averaged 7.7 points and 1.3 assists. He made only six of his 35 three-point attempts, 17.1 percent, while shooting 30.9 percent overall. Things were not much better in the Greek league. Aris made the decision to replace him several weeks before the two sides officially parted ways in mid-December.
Carr made his Greek league debut on October 8, 2023, against Olympiacos. Aris lost 81-72, and Carr started and played a little more than 23 minutes, scoring nine points on 4-of-12 shooting with two assists. Almost three years later, against the same opponent, he played the game that first put him at the center of EuroLeague attention.
Wurzburg Turned Him Into a High-Level European Lead Guard
After Thessaloniki, he moved to Israel, first with Bnei Herzliya and then Hapoel Galil Elyon. By his second season in the Israeli league, he was averaging more than 16 points and five assists. He was given heavy minutes, the ball and the freedom to make decisions, opportunities he had not had consistently at Aris.
When Wurzburg signed him in the summer of 2025, sporting director Kresimir Loncar revealed that Carr was not someone they had discovered only a few weeks earlier, but a player they had tracked for years. The club believed he could play both guard spots, create and score, and after two seasons in Israel he arrived far better prepared for European basketball than he had been the first time around.
Under Sasa Filipovski, he was given a central role. He led Wurzburg in scoring in the Bundesliga at 16.7 points per game while adding 5.7 assists, then raised those numbers to 17.5 points and 6.7 assists in the Basketball Champions League. He shot 39.7 percent from three and finished the competition fourth in assists. At one point during the season, Wurzburg openly listed him among the candidates for the German league MVP award.
Against Alba, Carr hit a three with a little more than 90 seconds left to put the home team ahead in a 96-92 win. Only three days later, he scored the winning layup against Igokea with 4.4 seconds remaining in a 70-68 victory. Against Jena, he scored 37 points, forced overtime and then hit a three to extend the game for another five minutes.
Virtus Had Been Watching Him Long Before the Olympiacos Shot
Virtus noticed him before the season was over. As early as the beginning of February, while Carr was still with Wurzburg, Italian media reported that the Bologna club was considering him as a potential signing. At the time, he was averaging roughly 17 points and six assists in the Basketball Champions League.
Carr is not a point guard who dominates because of exceptional size or explosiveness. His greatest value comes from the way he controls possessions. He can operate in the pick-and-roll, create his own shot, get into the paint and find a teammate when the defense reacts. He showed last season that he can run a high-level European offense without every action needing to be designed simply to get him a shot.
The EuroLeague Will Test Whether His Development Holds Up
The EuroLeague will test his decision-making under pressure, his defense and his ability to remain efficient when opponents begin taking away his first option much more thoroughly. Virtus has put together a young, significantly reshaped team that is still adjusting to the EuroLeague level. After the win, coach Alex Mumbru pointed out that Carr is a point guard, and that a large share of the team’s decisions therefore naturally end up in his hands.
Carr reached the EuroLeague at 27. Three years earlier, he had been unable to keep his place with Aris, a team playing in the EuroCup. On Thursday night, Virtus gave him the final possession against the champions of Europe.