TCU aims to turn Clemson collapse into lesson learned
As discouraging as Sunday night’s loss was for TCU, the Horned Frogs intend on flushing it.
After going scoreless for the final seven minutes and allowing Clemson’s 15-0 run at the end of regulation force overtime, the 62-60 loss at T-Mobile Arena will be chalked up to a learning experience for a young team.
TCU (4-1) plays Wyoming (3-4) at 8 p.m. Tuesday to close out the MGM Resorts Main Event tournament. The game airs on Flohoops.com. The Frogs don’t play again until hosting Illinois State at 8 p.m. Dec. 3 at Schollmaier Arena.
“This early in the season, you’re really not failing, you’re learning, you’re growing,” said guard Edric Dennis, who led the Horned Frogs with a season-high 18 points. “I’d rather us go through it now than in conference and in the [NCAA] tournament.”
What did they go through?
A stretch of seven minutes at the end of regulation when their 15-point lead slowly and painfully chipped away at until the Tigers had done the improbable.
TCU lost control of the momentum and couldn’t get it back.
“We got out of the flow of the game,” said Desmond Bane, who had 17 points but missed two crucial free throws with four seconds left in regulation that could have won the game for the Frogs. “I felt like we lost our rhythm and kind of slowed down, maybe tried to kill some clock and had some turnovers late that were bad.”
In fact, they had six turnovers and were 0 for 6 from the field during Clemson’s regulations-ending run.
“We’re only five games in so we’re not shutting down, that’s for sure,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “We made strides these last couple of days in some areas, the rebounding, we got it done the way we wanted, the defense continues to get better.”
Those are the encouraging aspects for Dixon. “Simply put, you put yourself up 15 like you want to,” he said. “We did enough good things.”
TCU had a chance to hit a game-winner in the final seconds of overtime but Dennis’ short-range jumper and Jaire Grayer’s layup both missed.
But it never should have come to that, Bane and Dennis said.
“I’m glad we were put in that situation. We won’t take it for granted anymore,” Dennis said. “We have a young team, a lot of guys who really haven’t been there, in that position. And they were in that position today. So it’s a good thing. We’re growing from it. We’ll get in the lab and we’ll fix it.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 1:54 PM.
