‘Definitely embarrassing.’ TCU falls flat as No. 6 KU dominates in 93-64 victory
With his postgame news conference pushing the midnight hour and few questions coming in, TCU basketball coach Jamie Dixon quipped that it was getting pretty late on Tuesday night.
“I think we were asleep at 9 p.m. ... our guys,” Dixon said.
That’s one explanation for TCU’s forgettable performance against No. 6 Kansas. The Frogs had little energy and were embarrassed by the Jayhawks 93-64 at Schollmaier Arena.
TCU (9-3, 2-2 Big 12) saw its five-game winning streak come to an end. Kansas (9-2, 3-1 Big 12), which lost to Texas by 25 points on Saturday, continued its dominance in Fort Worth.
The Jayhawks improved to 9-1 against the Frogs in Fort Worth, and 21-2 in the all-time series.
KU shot a season-high 56.5% from the field and won the rebounding battle 41-20. TCU’s (and the Big 12’s) leading rebounder, junior center Kevin Samuel, finished with zero rebounds. It’s the first time in his career he had no rebounds in a game.
Dixon was clearly disappointed in the rebounding numbers, saying his team might have set a record — for the wrong reasons.
“A couple different things led to rebounding problems,” he said. “Block outs weren’t good. Physicality wasn’t there. They were bigger, stronger, quicker to us throughout for 40 minutes.”
The Jayhawks were led by junior forward David McCormack’s 20 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Ochai Agbaji finished with 19 points, while freshman forward Jalen Wilson added 16 points and eight rebounds.
TCU junior forward Chuck O’Bannon Jr. had a team-high 18 points and six rebounds. Junior guard RJ Nembhard finished with 14 points and six assists, but also had five turnovers. As stated, Samuel had a disappointing outing with eight points and no rebounds. Freshman guard Mike Miles also struggled, finishing scoreless on an 0-for-8 night.
“Very disappointing. We definitely wanted to come out with more energy, more pop,” Nembhard said. “We failed to do that. We got dominated all across the board. Rebounding, shot percentages, we couldn’t guard the screen well.
“It definitely was embarrassing. We definitely don’t want to perform like that in front of our home fans. It’s a long season. We’re going to bounce back.”
KU dominated on a night it was without senior guard Marcus Garrett. The Dallas Skyline product had started 41 consecutive games for the Jayhawks and is known as one of the top defensive players in the country. Along with his defense, Garrett was averaging 9.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
Garrett’s absence didn’t faze the Jayhawks. Neither did the Jayhawks gifting the Frogs a couple points early on.
About the only thing that went in TCU’s favor was when KU’s Tristan Enaruan and Tyon Grant-Foster deflected a rebound back into the basket on a missed 3-pointer by Nembhard in the first half.
That pulled TCU to within 21-17 with 11 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first half. Any notion the basketball gods might be smiling down upon the Frogs was short lived, though.
KU went on a 12-2 run shortly after that mishap, enjoying a 40-26 lead with just over five minutes left. By halftime, the Jayhawks were leading 49-35. That was the most points allowed by TCU in the opening half this season.
Credit the Jayhawks for shooting 64% from the field and 60% from distance. They also won the rebounding battle 17-9 in the first half.
It didn’t get better in the second half for TCU. KU opened the second half with a 10-2 run and never let TCU get back in it.
“They punched us in the face early and we certainly didn’t respond throughout,” Dixon said. “I didn’t see it coming. I don’t know why it occurred, why we played like we did, but it was just a poor performance.”
TCU returns to action against No. 2 Baylor on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at Schollmaier Arena.
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 11:06 PM.
