TCU finds spark deep on bench in deceptive win over Arkansas State

By the numbers in the box score, Michael Williams made a modest contribution to TCU’s basketball victory on Saturday night at Schollmaier Arena.

Six points and an assist in six minutes won’t stir the emotions of all-conference selectors. But numbers can also be shameless liars.

Williams’ hit two key 3-pointers in a crucial stretch in the second half of the Horned Frogs’ 77-54 triumph over Arkansas State, as expected tough as well-done steak.

The final score is deceiving, too. The Frogs needed to score the last 16 points of the game to craft that margin and win their eighth consecutive game to start the season. With the victory, the Frogs snapped the Red Wolves’ seven-game winning streak.

Kenrich Williams recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Vlad Brodziansky finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots.

Michael Williams, a senior from San Antonio who has battled injuries throughout his career and missed most of the preseason practice, sat for 31 minutes before coach Jamie Dixon called his number.

“It’s difficult [to sit], but you just have to keep your head up and be a man,” Williams said. “I kept my head in the game and when coach called my name I stayed positive and ready.”

TCU is deep at the guard position with the new additions of freshmen Jaylen Fisher and Desmond Bane. The Frogs used a rotation of seven guards on Saturday, and Michael Williams was the last to be inserted after Fisher fell into foul trouble and Alex Robinson was banged up.

“He’s a guy who’s solid, takes care of the ball, won’t force anything,” Dixon said. “That’s what we needed at that point. We were down a point guard. He gave us another ball-handler against a quicker team.

“And he hit the two 3s. I wish I could have predicted that.”

The Frogs led 37-35 when Brodziansky scored seven straight TCU points, including a three-point play, giving the Frogs a 44-37 lead. JD Miller’s jumper in the lane widened the Frogs’ lead nine, their biggest of the game to that point.

But the Red Wolves declined to relent, fighting back to within 51-46.

Williams hit a 3-pointer to increase the lead to eight and another at the 5:08 mark to again increase the margin to eight, both enlivening an enthused crowd.

“This is a very good team,” Dixon said of Arkansas State. In fact, the coach added in his opinion, the best team the Frogs have played to date on a schedule that has included victories over UNLV and twice over Washington. “We beat a very good team and stuck with it when we weren’t making shots early, but I though our execution was good. We stayed with it.”

TCU opened the game hitting 8 of 11 field goals and led by as many as eight before going Arctic cold.

The Frogs sustained a drought of 9:09 without a field goal, going 0-for-10, including five missed 3-pointers.

Kenrich Williams’ jumper in transition at the 1:34 mark stopped the slide, though the Frogs converted only one field goal attempt in the last 10:30 minutes of the first half.

Four free throws padded a tenuous lead, which was finally erased by Devin Carter’s 3-pointer that tied the game at 26 at the 2:41 mark. He hit another with under a minute left to tie the game again at 29-all. Carter scored a game-high 22 points.

The Red Wolves (7-2) took their first lead with Carter’s reverse layup to open the scoring in the second half.

“We’ve evolved tremendously. We’re playing well together,” said Michael Williams, one of TCU’s four seniors. “We’re 15 people deep. There’s no one player. Any night someone else can come up and play big for us.”

The Frogs go for nine straight at SMU on Wednesday.

This story was originally published December 3, 2016 at 11:05 PM with the headline "TCU finds spark deep on bench in deceptive win over Arkansas State."