Men’s Basketball: Freshmen, led by Punch, guide TCU to 11-point win versus Colorado

TCU’s five freshmen combined to score 39 points.

The TCU Horned Frogs rebounded from three consecutive losses to defeat the Colorado Buffaloes 68-57. Back home in Fort Worth, the 10th conference game began rather slowly. The winless (in the Big 12) Buffaloes started the game on an 8-0 run. The Buffaloes connected on all four of their first field goal attempts, while the Frogs started 0-of-5. Head Coach Jamie Dixon called a timeout after only three minutes of game time to stop the bleeding. TCU, however, was slow to respond. Freshman David Punch converted on a lay-up to cut the deficit to six before the Buffaloes would knock down a triple to go back up by eight. Punch scored again and assisted on a Micah Robinson lay-in to slash Colorado’s lead to three.

TCU continued to trail much of the first half, taking its first lead with just over four minutes to go. Freshman Jace Posey drilled a three-pointer to help the Frogs overcome a once-eight-point deficit. Following Posey’s three to take the lead, the Horned Frogs finished the first half on an 8-3 run. Noah Reynolds and Vasean Allette scored six of TCU’s last eight points of the first stanza.

TCU began the second half much stronger than the first. Newly reappointed starter Brenden Wenzel cashed in on an early three-pointer to build TCU’s lead to 10, 37-27. The Horned Frogs continued to stave off the Buffaloes. Colorado came within four but could never inch closer. Another Posey jumper with under 16 minutes left kept the Buffaloes at bay. As soon as Colorado cut the margin to four once more, fellow freshman Isaiah Manning knocked down a triple to increase TCU’s advantage to seven.

The game started to get out of hand after five consecutive points from Punch around the seven-minute mark. The 6-foot-7 freshman knocked down a three-pointer, his second of the game, and threw down a dunk to essentially put away the Buffaloes. Colorado would never trail by less than double digits for the rest of the game. TCU led by as many as 18 after Punch’s third three-pointer of the contest with 2:23 to go.

The Buffaloes would score four more points to finish the game, simultaneously holding the Horned Frogs scoreless. TCU ended up winning its fourth Big 12 game of the season, 68-57.

Punch led all scorers, dropping a career-high 19 points. The freshman converted 7-of-10 field goals and all three of his three-pointers. Prior to Sunday’s contest, Punch had only made two three-pointers all season. Reynolds would follow Punch’s 19, scoring 11 points of his own. The senior guard added six assists. Aside from Punch, TCU’s other freshmen lit up the scoring column. Robinson, Manning, Posey, and Malick Diallo combined for 20 points. The Frog freshman contributed nearly 60 percent of TCU’s scoring total.

TCU shot worse from the field and the free throw than the Buffaloes, but won the turnover battle 19-8. The Horned Frogs scored an impressive 28 points off Colorado turnovers. The Buffaloes only saw one player reach double-digits. Forward Andrej Jakimovski led all Buffaloes with 13 points.

The Horned Frogs will host the West Virginia Mountaineers on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. CT. The Mountaineers are 14-7 on the season and 5-5 in conference play.