Drew’s Desk: Vasean Allete steps up for TCU men’s basketball

Allette’s 7-0 personal run closed out the Mountaineers last Wednesday.

TCU Men’s Basketball went 1-1 for the second straight week with a home victory over West Virginia this past Wednesday by a score of 65-60 and a blowout loss on the road to Iowa State on Saturday by a score of 82-52. The Frogs overcame a halftime deficit and showcased late-game poise to hold off a late push from the Mountaineers to secure the win. Iowa State is an excellent team and Hilton Coliseum is a very tough home court, but the Frogs should have been competitive and played a much closer game.

Losing in the paint

For the first few games of the season, the Frogs had a starting five on the smaller side and relied on David Punch to play backup center. That rotation setup was not successful, the Frogs were getting outrebounded and struggled to protect the paint. Jamie Dixon adjusted to burn Malick Diallo’s redshirt and move Punch into the starting lineup at the four alongside Ernest Udeh. TCU sacrificed offensive spacing to be better suited for the physicality of the Big 12. For starting two big men to be a successful strategy, TCU needs to control the paint and that was far from the case against Iowa State. The Frogs were outscored 44-28 by the Cyclones in the paint and did not collect a single blocked shot as a team.

Playing a bigger lineup should deter teams from scoring in the paint with more rim protectors on the floor but TCU’s help defense was too late to react on Saturday. Against West Virginia, TCU’s interior defense was better but the Frogs were still outscored in the paint, 34-28. The Frogs are not going to outshoot their opponents with the current rotation construction and instead need to start controlling the paint on both sides of the floor.

Iso

After the injury to Frankie Collins, TCU was left without a clear primary initiator and shot creator to drive the offense. In the past few games, Vasean Allete has done an excellent job of stepping up into that role for the Frogs. Against West Virginia, Allete looked comfortable in the closer role with a personal 7-0 run in the final minutes to secure the win for the Frogs. Allete finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and two steals against the Mountaineers.

One of the most impressive aspects of his games is his willingness to battle for rebounds from his guard spot, averaging almost four boards per game which ranks fourth on the team. Allete has a seemingly unending bag of moves to create his own shot and has shown a willingness to find open teammates when opposing teams send multiple defenders his way, averaging over three assists per game. The Old Dominion transfer has played well as the lead shot creator for the Frogs.

Shot distribution

It is no secret that TCU Men’s Basketball has struggled at times on offense this season. Against the Cyclones, those struggles continued as TCU shot 35.8% from the field and 14.3% from three.

TCU did not have a single player with double-digit points against Iowa State and had more turnovers as a team than assists. Some of these struggles are unavoidable at this point in the season but giving certain players more shots could give the offense a boost. Noah Reynolds is one of TCU’s best offensive threats but has not eclipsed nine shot attempts in the last three games. I appreciate Reynolds’ commitment to being an efficient scorer but at some point, the Frogs need him to be aggressive and take more shots even if they are not the absolute best shots.

TCU also needs to do a better job of recognizing which player has the hot hand and feeding that player more shot attempts. Trazarien White, for example, started 3-3 from the field against Iowa State when TCU was struggling on offense. I would have liked to see the Frogs run a few set plays to get White more looks from the field to help out the offense. While there is no quick fix for TCU on offense, tinkering with the shot distribution could yield better results.

Highlight of the Week

Clutch and-1 from Allete against WVU.

Looking Ahead

TCU will take on Oklahoma State in Fort Worth on Wednesday at 6 p.m before traveling to Tempe, Arizona for a game against the Sun Devils on Saturday at 7 p.m.