No collapse relapse: TCU too much for Wyoming in Las Vegas
There wasn’t going to be a relapse Tuesday night.
TCU shook off its first loss of the season with a thoroughly dominating thrashing of Wyoming Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Horned Frogs, who blew a 15-0 lead with just over seven minutes remaining in Sunday’s overtime loss to Clemson, had no second-half letdown against the cold-shooting Cowboys in a 64-47 win in the MGM Resorts Main Event tournament.
The Frogs are off for the Thanksgiving break before hosting Illinois State at 8 pm. Dec. 3 at Schollmaier Arena.
TCU (5-1) played without starting guard RJ Nembhard, who was out with a nagging groin issue, but his absence was hardly noticed. Freshman PJ Fuller made his first-career start in his place and finished with 11 points 5 of 11 shooting.
After committing a season-high 21 turnovers Sunday night, the Frogs had a season-low nine against the Cowboys, who had 14.
“It was a good response to a heartbreaking loss and a good sign for us going forward,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “We came out with good intensity, good focus. We caused turnovers, took away the 3 and rebounded at a pretty good level.”
The Frogs jumped out to a 16-4 lead halfway through the first half and led 30-14 at halftime after holding Wyoming to 17.9% shooting, including 18.2% from the 3-point arc.
TCU led by 20 behind the hot-shooting of Desmond Bane and Fuller. Bane had a game-high 22 points on 8 of 14 shooting.
“Down the stretch we stuck with our motion instead of trying to run the clock and I think it was good for us,” said Bane, who also had his second consecutive double-double with 11 rebounds. “We’re not where we need to be right now, we’re just a young team. We’re still improving but we have spurts in the game where we’re playing a little slow and can’t get our feet underneath us.”
Dixon had few complaints as the team breaks for six days. He saw it coming after an excellent practice on Monday after Sunday’s head-shaking collapse.
“We have to get our offense flowing a little bit better than that. But I liked the pace with which we played, didn’t shoot it great but had a lot of open shots,” he said. “I thought our guys really responded in practice. I don’t think I’ve ever given up a 15-point lead. But we found a way.”
But they put it in the rear-view mirror with Tuesday’s performance.
“You don’t want to sit out a week knowing that you didn’t give it all,” Fuller said. “That’s tough to think about. So everybody should be sitting right, eating good going into Thanksgiving break.”
