TCU falls to Kansas, adding more doubt to Frogs’ March Madness hopes

In a matchup of men’s basketball teams dealing with their postseason opportunities in dramatically different ways, Kansas added another Big 12 championship to its trophy case Wednesday.

TCU simply added more uncertainty to its status as a bubble team in quest of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Horned Frogs took another step backward in their March Madness journey in Allen Fieldhouse, falling 87-68 to the third-ranked Jayhawks.

The setback marked the fourth consecutive loss for the Frogs (17-11, 6-9 in Big 12), matching their longest skid of the season. It caused first-year coach Jamie Dixon to go all-in about the significance of Saturday’s game in Fort Worth against No. 12 West Virginia in regard to TCU’s quest to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998.

“We’re a bubble team that’s lost four in a row. The biggest game of the year for us is Saturday. There’s no other way to put it,” Dixon said after watching the Frogs get outscored by 17 points over the final 16:05 in what had been a back-and-forth game for most of 24 minutes. “We’ve played ourselves on to the bubble. There’s no hiding from it. We’re not ready to beat these top teams on the road, the way we play for long stretches. I thought we were. But we’re not.”

Kansas (25-3, 13-2 in Big 12) took full advantage, securing at least a share of its 13th consecutive Big 12 championship. The title ties UCLA’s record of most consecutive conference titles in Division I men’s basketball, set from 1967-79.

Kansas put away TCU, a team projected as a No. 8 seed in the NCAA field two weeks ago, by winning the battle of the boards in the second half, 25-12, and holding the Frogs to a 39.1 shooting percentage for the game. TCU made just 6-for-23 from beyond the arc (26.1 pct.).

The Frogs pushed the Jayhawks for the first 30 minutes before KU pulled away down the stretch. The teams swapped the lead 10 times in the first half, and 12 times overall, before Kansas took control with an 8-0 run early in the second half to secure its first of multiple double-digit leads down the stretch.

TCU forward Vladimir Brodziansky, who scored 28 points during the teams’ first meeting in Fort Worth, was limited to eight points in Wednesday’s rematch. Three Frogs scored in double-digits, led by guard Alex Robinson (15 points, 4 assists).

“TCU was great the first half,” said Kansas coach Bill Self, whose team held only a 40-39 lead at intermission. “But in the second half, I thought we played great.”

Dixon agreed the Jayhawks stepped up their game in crunch time. But he was disappointed by how much the Frogs helped with sloppy defensive execution, poor shot selection and a lack of timely rebounds.

“They seemed to get every loose ball, long rebound and deflection in the second half. That’s where it got away from us,” Dixon said. “I was disappointed by how we played over the last 10 minutes. We let other things affect us. They finished and built on momentum.”

TCU can re-energize its NCAA hopes with a strong closing push in its remaining home games against West Virginia (Saturday) and Kansas State (March 1), as well as a March 4 contest at Oklahoma (9-18, 3-12) the Big 12 cellar-dweller. But Dixon knows a momentum turner must occur, and soon, for TCU to emerge as one of the 68 teams in the NCAA field.

“There’s no hiding from it,” Dixon said. “We’ve got to go play on Saturday. If we do, this can count as one loss and one loss only.”

Robinson said: “We’ll stick together and work this thing through. Against Kansas, they got on a run … and we didn’t respond the way we were supposed to. Saturday’s our biggest game, so that’s our focus from here on.”

This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 10:22 PM with the headline "TCU falls to Kansas, adding more doubt to Frogs’ March Madness hopes."