TCU bracing for NCAA Tournament shutout, focused on improvement

The unsightly numbers continued surfacing Thursday, reinforcing the significance of TCU’s most recent setback in a six-game losing streak that has scratched the Horned Frogs (17-13, 6-11 Big 12) from projections about at-large invitees to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

TCU fell to No. 69 in Thursday’s updated RPI rankings, a drop of 11 spots within hours of Wednesday’s 75-74 home loss to Kansas State (18-12, 7-10) in a battle of NCAA bubble teams. TCU, a projected No. 8 seed in March Madness as recently as Feb. 8, no longer appears in bracket projections of the 68-team field posted Thursday by USA Today, ESPN.com or CBSSports.com. The latest ESPN projection includes only five participants from the Big 12, a league that has sent seven teams to each of the last three NCAA tournaments.

TCU’s most realistic opportunity to land an NCAA berth now rests with an unlikely run to a championship at the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament, March 8-11 in Kansas City, Mo. The winner of the conference tournament receives a berth in the NCAA field.

Following the loss to K-State, the Frogs are tied with Texas Tech (18-12, 6-11) for seventh place in the league standings and headed in the wrong direction. The team’s once-clear path to an NCAA berth now looms as “very difficult,” first-year coach Jamie Dixon said, because of inconsistencies on both ends of the court that were evident against the Wildcats.

TCU was outrebounded 31-28 and outscored in the paint 28-24. K-State finished with more second-chance points, 10-8, and hit more shots from 3-point range (nine), particularly in momentum-turning situations.

“We needed to win this game. This certainly didn’t help,” Dixon said while assessing the Frogs’ opportunity to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998. “Certainly, we could go and win some games in the (Big 12) tournament and that could change everything. I’ve been a part of those. But we’re not going to win games playing the way we’ve played ... We make too many mistakes and compound it on the next trip down when it goes the other way. It’s a fine line.”

TCU closes the regular season Saturday at Oklahoma (10-19, 4-13), one of two teams tied for last in the Big 12 standings. A victory over the Sooners would enhance TCU’s seeding for the Big 12 tournament. But Dixon seeks to improve more than just the Frogs’ placement in relation to league peers as TCU prepares for a possible postseason opportunity in the NIT, which features the top teams left out of the NCAA field.

“We’ve got to cut down on mental mistakes defensively. We just have too many breakdowns and lack of execution in what we’re doing on the defensive end, as well as the offensive end,” Dixon said. “That’s why we’ve lost six in a row. Simply put, we just aren’t getting it done. I’m disappointed. I really believe we’re better than what we play. And I’m trying to instill that in our players.”

TCU’s last three home games have resulted in losses by three points (Oklahoma State), one point (No. 10 West Virginia) and one point (Kansas State). The six-game slide, the season’s longest, also includes double-digit road losses at No. 1 Kansas, No. 11 Baylor and No. 24 Iowa State.

TCU guard Brandon Parrish, a senior who scored 11 points in the loss to K-State, considers the recent struggles part of the learning curve for a team that starts no seniors and is coming off last year’s 12-21 record.

“Over these last six games, we haven’t been able to put two halves together,” Parrish said. “Our young guys on this team are going to learn from this. It really hurts. But sometimes pain helps with learning.”

As things stand, TCU appears well on the way toward feeling the pain of being shut out on Selection Sunday from a spot in this year’s NCAA field.

This story was originally published March 2, 2017 at 2:04 PM with the headline "TCU bracing for NCAA Tournament shutout, focused on improvement."