Men’s Basketball: Horned Frogs suffer largest defeat of season at UCF

Back-to-back losses for the second time this season.

Nothing seemed to go right for the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday afternoon. In a bout against the UCF Knights, TCU suffered their largest loss of the season. The Knights started strong and never backed off the pedal. UCF scored the first 13 points of the contest, forcing Jamie Dixon to call a timeout after three and a half minutes of action. The Frogs would respond, cutting UCF’s deficit to eight with 13 minutes to go. After building a 12-point advantage, the Horned Frogs would respond, scoring six straight points.

Nonetheless, a TV timeout seemingly ended the Horned Frogs’ momentum. The Knights rattled off 11 straight points before TCU would score. TCU saw a streak of six minutes before Vasean Allette connected on a jump shot with about two and a half minutes to go in the first half. The Knight build a resounding, 14-point lead in only 20 minutes of action.

The second half wasn’t much different from the first. TCU narrowed the margin to 10 before allowing a bevy points to the hosting Knights. UCF scored 18 compared to TCU’s six from the 13:40 mark to the halfway point. Led by Keyshawn Hall, the Knights showed no signs of slowing down, helping UCF build an insurmountable 22 point lead with under 10 minutes remaining.

Allette proved to be of the lone bright spots for the Frogs, crossing the double-digit threshold with as the clock dwindled. UCF continued to pile it on, going up by as many as 28 with just over two minutes in the game. A late Jace Posey free throw and Isaiah Manning jump-shot cut UCF’s largest lead of the game to 27—the amount the Frogs would lose by.

The Horned Frogs’ offense struggled mightily against the worst scoring defense in the Big 12. TCU shot 1-of-20 from beyond the arc, including a 0-of-12 performance in the first half. Manning converted TCU’s lone three-pointer of the contest, going 1-of-3 from beyond the arc. TCU shot 35.6 percent against the Knights—its worst percentage against a conference foe thus far. Allette was the lone Frog in double-digits with 15. The sophomore added five rebounds and four assists. David Punch scored nine, while Noah Reynolds and Trazarien White each scored eight, combining to go 8-of-24 from the field.

Hall led the way for the Knights, scoring 26 points, 11 of which came from the free throw line. The 6-foot-7 forward has now scored 20-plus points in four of eight conference games. Moustapha Thiam, Darius Johnson, and Jordan Ivy-Curry all scored in double-digits for the Knights. Furthermore, each of the aforementioned players connected on at least two triples. UCF cashed in on 13 three-pointers, shooting 41.9 percent from distance. Following the loss, TCU is now 3-5 in Big 12 play while the Knights are 4-4 in eighth place.

The Horned Frogs will travel west to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders at 6:00 p.m. CT on Wednesday, January 29. The Red Raiders are 14-4 on the season and 5-2 in conference.