Drew’s Desk: TCU men’s basketball builds momentum with upset of Texas Tech

The Frogs have an outside shot at an at large bid for the NCAA Tournament after the win over Texas Tech.

TCU Men’s Basketball picked up its best win of the season with a court-storming inducing upset of number nine ranked Texas Tech last Tuesday with a final score of 69-66. The Frogs also traveled to Cincinnati this past Saturday and lost by a score of 75-63 to the Bearcats, putting TCU’s hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament on life support. The Frogs now sit at 15-12 on the year and likely need to win out and pick up at least one win in the Big 12 tournament to earn an at-large bid to March Madness.

Energy

TCU’s win over Texas Tech this past Tuesday was significant for a number of reasons. It was TCU’s best win of the season and a tremendous resume booster for a team looking to sneak into March Madness with a late-season push on Desmond Bane’s jersey retirement night against an in-state rival who is vying for a regular season Big 12 Championship. An underappreciated aspect of that win was that it injected energy back into a program that deserved more attention from TCU fans.

Is this the most successful season in recent memory for TCU Men’s Basketball? No, but this young team has continually shown flashes of potential for great seasons in the coming years and has played some very entertaining basketball during conference play. The Frogs are 9-1 in games decided by five points or less this season including clutch wins over their two biggest Big 12 rivals in Baylor and Texas Tech.

The Frogs are also a highlight-producing machine with Ernest Udeh throwing down lobs and volleyball spike blocks, Jace Posey showing off insane athleticism on the fastbreak, and Noah Reynolds and Vasean Allete knocking down countless shots in the clutch. The win over Texas Tech gave the Frogs and Frog fans confidence for the rest of the season and for seasons to come.

Scoring Punch from the Bigs

TCU has been reliant on their two ball handlers, Allete and Reynolds, for the vast majority of shot creation and scoring this season, and opposing teams have adjusted to send more help their way. The Frogs have been searching for secondary scoring and received double-digit points from a big man against both Texas Tech and Cincinnati. Ernest Udeh worked his way to his fifth double-double of the season against Texas Tech with 11 points and 10 rebounds on five of six shooting from the floor. Udeh made Tech pay when they sent extra help to the ball handler on pick-and-roll actions with numerous finishes off of alley-oops and six offensive rebounds.

While he will most likely never be a prolific post-scorer, Udeh finding ways to be impactful on the offensive end is a major positive for TCU. Against Cincinnati, David Punch delivered a team-high 18 points along with six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block. Punch showcased the exciting potential he has on the offensive end of the floor as a stretch four, knocking down a three and attacking the rim off the bounce as well. While the three-point shot from Punch is not fully developed, he is shooting a solid 33.3% from deep this season and is taking enough shots to earn respect from opposing defenses and help TCU’s spacing.

Interior Defense

On the road against Cincinnati, the Frogs held the Bearcats to just 20% shooting from the three-point line as a team. Despite this poor outside shooting, Cincinnati was able to shoot 45% from the field as a team because of the success the Bearcats had scoring in the paint. Cincinnati racked up 40 points in the paint against TCU and got to the free-throw line 17 times. There is something to be said about the fact that TCU also scored 40 paint points but only attempted four free throws as a team, but the Frogs still need to do a better job protecting the rim. The big men need to be faster in help defense and the perimeter defenders need to stay with their man to better contest shots in the paint.

Highlight of the Week

Eurostep into a dunk from Jace Posey.

Looking Ahead

The Frogs will travel to Morgantown on Tuesday for a game against the Mountaineers at 8 p.m. before returning to Fort Worth for a game against UCF on Saturday at 3 p.m.