TCU sees chances for competitiveness in final weeks

TCU enters the final two weeks of the regular season with a stretch where it believes it can be competitive.

Starting Wednesday, the Horned Frogs meet Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Iowa State to close the regular season. The Frogs were 2-2 against those teams the first time they played them. The game against the Red Raiders starts at 7 p.m. at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center.

And coming off a strong game against Kansas, the Frogs believe they still have momentum.

“We felt like we were in the game,” senior guard Trey Zeigler said of the 81-72 loss at Lawrence. “We felt like we played pretty well. We want to continue to play pretty well, finish out the season strong.”

The Horned Frogs (16-11, 3-11) already have their winningest conference record in their three years in the Big 12.

“We’re playing better,” TCU coach Trent Johnson said. “Our last three games, we’ve played probably as good as we have all year. I don’t know about ‘trending up’ and stuff like that. We’re playing better, that’s a good thing. We’ll have our hands full again this week.”

TCU’s 62-42 victory against Texas Tech in Lubbock in January was by the biggest point margin of the season.

The Red Raiders started four freshmen in that game and are still one of the youngest teams in the country; in fact, the stat website KenPom.com says Tech is the eighth-youngest team in the Power 5 leagues.

“We’re very excited about the five freshmen, and the best one is sitting out with knee surgery — Justin Gray,” Tech coach Tubby Smith said. “We have a good nucleus in Keenan Evans and Zach Smith, Norense Odiase and Isaiah Manderson. You have to have hope. You have to have belief.”

Johnson doesn’t have to be convinced of Tech’s potential, and he has certainly impressed his team with it.

“They’re going to get better. They’ve gotten better,” Johnson said, noting the Red Raiders’ overtime loss to Oklahoma last week. “They’ve got two wins versus two good teams. Yeah, they’re playing a lot better. We’ll play a Texas Tech team that is much different than the team we played the first time. We have to be prepared to guard a team that is young and talented and well-coached. If we can do that, we’ll have a chance to be successful.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2015 at 6:18 PM with the headline "TCU sees chances for competitiveness in final weeks."