Just another day at ‘The Office’ for 4-0 TCU in Australia
In a move that might win them a “Dundie,” the TCU Horned Frogs defeated a no-name team from Australia 107-81 on Sunday to remain undefeated after four games of a five-game tour.
Desmond Bane scored 21 points, and Alex Robinson added 19 to pace the Frogs, who topped the century mark for the third time on their Australia trip.
Their opponent Sunday at Dandenong Basketball Stadium, the Longhorns, is a club in Melbourne that has produced players such as Mangok Mathiang of Louisville.
But the Longhorns showed up without names for the scorebook, only numbers, so the TCU statistician assigned identities 30 minutes before tip as follows:
- 20 SCOTT, Michael
- 23 HOWARD, Ryan
- 24 MARTIN, Angela
- 29 MALONE, Kevin
- 39 PALMER, Meredith
- 05 SCHRUTE, Dwight
- 10 HALPERT, Jim
- 14 BEESLY, Pam
- 21 BERNARD, Andy
- 22 FLENDERSON, Toby
- 25 HUDSON, Stanley
- 30 KAPOOR, Kelly
The Longhorns’ star, of course, was Jim Halpert with 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting, nine rebounds and two blocks. Michael Scott added 13 points, and Meredith Palmer finished with 17.
TCU more than matched that production behind Bane, who was 8-for-16 shooting, including 4-for-8 on 3-pointers, and had six steals. Robinson had eight assists and five rebounds, while Kenrich Williams added 12 points and seven assists.
“We had some good runs in there,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said in quotes provided by the team. “We were playing a lot of different combinations to give some guys opportunities. I think that was the most important thing. I’d like to play better for 40 minutes, all coaches would, but we certainly did some good things.”
About 18 hours earlier, the Frogs pushed to 3-0 with a 96-70 victory against the Melbourne All-Stars, getting 20 points from Australia native Kouat Noi.
TCU’s next episode — or rather, game — is scheduled for 5 a.m. Texas time on Tuesday against the Knox Raiders. The Frogs are due home Wednesday. The NCAA season starts Nov. 10.
Carlos Mendez: 817-390-7760, @calexmendez
This story was originally published August 13, 2017 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Just another day at ‘The Office’ for 4-0 TCU in Australia."