Frogs lament final shot in Big 12 shootout loss to Oklahoma, 90-89

With a chance for TCU to win a mammoth Big 12 opener, Kenrich Williams rushed his shot.

“Probably should have taken a dribble,” he said.

The senior guard’s 3-pointer, launched with about four seconds to spare, went off-target and the 10th-ranked Horned Frogs lost for the first time in 18 games, 90-89, to No. 12 Oklahoma on Saturday at Schollmaier Arena.

“Probably could have gotten a better look,” Williams said.

The miss denied the Frogs (12-1, 0-1) a chance to win their Big 12 opener for the first time, playing in front of a sellout crowd against the nation’s leading scorer, freshman Trae Young, and highest-scoring team.

Young finished with 39 points on 9-for-23 shooting for the Sooners (11-1, 1-0). He made 15 of 18 free throws and collected 14 assists. His last miss turned into a long offensive rebound that led to Kameron McGusty’s 3-pointer for an 88-87 OU lead with 26 seconds left.

OU out-rebounded TCU 21-15 in the second half, making up what was a 13-point deficit at 67-54 on Desmond Bane’s 3-pointer for TCU with 10:48 left.

“Our lack of commitment to transition defense, our lack of understanding has been hurting us all year,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “And it caught up to us in our first loss.”

Ahmed Hamdy added a season-high 15 points, and Bane also had 15 for TCU, which came in as the nation's second-best shooting team (54.5 percent) but finished at 40.5 percent against an Oklahoma defense that blocked 10 shots.

Still, the Frogs had the lead in the closing seconds. Williams’ mid-range jumper put TCU ahead 89-88 with 16 seconds left, but Young pushed the ball and made two free throws with 7.9 seconds left for the winning points.

TCU, with no timeouts, got the ball to Williams, a 50-percent 3-point shooter coming in, on the right wing where he tried his shot against close defense.

“We contested the shot decently,” OU coach Lon Kruger said. “He’s still capable of making it.”

Dixon said TCU has practiced that situation “a million times” and never gotten the shot Williams took.

“Yeah, it’s a tough loss,” Dixon said. “Two high-level teams playing, and a fun game for everybody to watch, but we’re extremely disappointed to lose. Probably moreso with having a 13-point lead with 10 minutes left and a five-point lead with three minutes left and getting beat down the stretch on the boards.”

It may be a lesson to keep for the Frogs, who trailed 11-0 in the first four minutes, as they are only beginning the 18-game Big 12 march.

“Got to learn how to finish the game,” Williams said. “When we’ve got the lead, we’ve got to learn how to hold the lead until the end of the game. We’re going to take care of it.”

Big 12 standings

This story was originally published December 30, 2017 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Frogs lament final shot in Big 12 shootout loss to Oklahoma, 90-89."