Drew’s Desk: TCU men’s basketball wins third straight in Waco

The Frogs picked up their best win of the season on the heels of a disappointing loss at home.

The last seven days have been very eventful for TCU Men’s Basketball as the Frogs lost at home to a middling Utah team on Wednesday by a score of 73-65 before going on the road Sunday and knocking off number 25-ranked Baylor by a score of 74-71. The Frogs now sit at 10-7 on the season and 3-3 in the Big 12. The juxtaposition of these two games highlighted the frustrations of a young team and the talent and potential on the roster.

The Importance of Ernest Udeh

With TCU replacing almost all of their rotation from last season, the Frogs needed Ernest Udeh to take a step forward and become one of the better centers in the conference. Luckily, for Jamie Dixon and TCU, Udeh did just that, especially on the defensive end of the floor. The motor and athleticism were always there with Udeh but last season he could get lost in rotations and struggle to recover back to his man after defending a ball screen. These mental lapses are now scarce as Udeh has done a great job of helping on ball screens, timing his recovery back to his man, and cutting down on fouls.

Udeh is averaging just over two fouls per game while playing over 27 minutes per game, an impressive rate for an aggressive shot blocker. Udeh is also averaging more points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals than he did last season. He was instrumental in leading the comeback against Baylor, finishing with 16 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks while going 6-8 from the free-throw line. Udeh’s development has been huge for the Frogs.

Off-ball Movement from Brendan Wenzel

TCU has struggled at times this season to generate good looks in halfcourt offense, due in part to a lack of primary ball handling following the injury to Frankie Collins. An underrated adjustment that Jamie Dixon has made to combat this was to draw up more set plays to create looks for Brendan Wenzel. Wenzel is not a primary ball handler who typically creates his own shot off of the pick and roll, but Wenzel moves well with the ball and is a deadly three-point shooter. Wenzel is shooting 45% from three on 4.6 attempts per game this season and scored in double digits in both of the last two games off the bench with 12 points against Utah and 17 points against Baylor.

Teams have started closing out harder on Wenzel to try and run him off of the three-point line and Wenzel has showcased a solid ability to attack the basket off the catch when a defender closes out too hard. Credit to Dixon and the coaching staff for finding a way to generate more half-court offense despite the limitations due to injury.

Offensive Sloppiness

Each of the games this past week from the Frogs had elements of egregious offense that need to be fixed moving forward. In the home game against Utah, TCU went 10 for 21 from the FREE THROW LINE as a team. That is a free throw percentage of 47.6. The Frogs missed 11 free throws in a game they lost by eight points. Simply put, if TCU makes their free throws, they win the game and the conversation surrounding the team would be vastly different. In the game against Baylor, free throw shooting was much improved as TCU knocked down 76.5 percent of their attempts from the stripe.

Unfortunately, another issue sprung up as TCU turned the ball over 17 times against the Bears. That number looks even worse in the context of TCU having just 14 assists as a team. The Frogs are a young team but to have consistent opportunities to win in the Big 12, TCU needs to limit wasted possessions moving forward.

Beating the Bears

With the win in Waco on Sunday, the Frogs have now won three straight road games against the Bears on three clutch shots to take late leads. The Bears have a great program and consistently have solid fan support, especially when facing a big-time rival making winning three straight in Waco an even more impressive feat from Jamie Dixon.

Highlight of the Week

Wenzel for the win!

Looking Ahead

The Frogs will take on the number nine ranked Kansas Jayhawks in Fort Worth at 6:00 pm on Wednesday and will travel to Orlando to play UCF at 3:00 pm on Saturday.