Here’s what TCU basketball’s Jamie Dixon said after heartbreaking loss to Arizona
TCU basketball lost a heartbreaker on Sunday night.
The Horned Frogs were in position to stun 1-seed Arizona, but eventually fell in overtime, 85-80. Coach Jamie Dixon discussed the game, including a controversial no-call late in regulation, with reporters afterward.
Opening statement: “As I told the guys in the locker room, how proud I was of this team, what they had become. Came together on June 1. A whole new group, guys from all over the place, all from different places. A lot of them knew each other too, and wanted to play with each other. And I think you can see why.
“They became a team, a unit that was unbelievably close. They do everything together. It’s just a fun team to be around. Very outgoing. Love being on campus. Love the college experience. Love being part of the student body. And I just can’t thank them enough. I’m so proud of them. TCU basketball, I just think I told them they made millions of fans tonight by watching this game. And the challenge now is to handle it the right way after this loss.
“Certainly a lot of questions will be asked, but we’ll handle it the right way and do the right things because that’s what they’ve done all year long. So very proud of them. And TCU, I know, is proud of this team, and the fans and I think fans everywhere. We still felt we should have won the game. We did everything and we just came up short. So we’ll look at the film. But I’m so proud of them.”
On late-game strategy (possibly foul being up 3 late in regulation, and the no-call on Mike Miles on the final possession): “They’ve been doing that [trap] all game. And you can’t foul that early in the clock. They have too much time, so you just lengthen the game. You don’t want to lengthen the game. No. They had plenty of time and came in, tough shot. Obviously we know what happened afterwards. I thought we guarded it well. He made a tough shot. It was deep. We had them going backwards, but I thought we guarded it well.
“I tried to call a timeout as we made the shot but the referee wasn’t looking at me. So then obviously we know what happened after that.”
On Eddie Lampkin’s growth: “You play with enthusiasm and you love the game, there’s a good chance you’re going to get better. That’s what he is. That’s who he is. And it’s just been fun to watch him grow and get better. There’s still so many things that he can improve on, so we’re just looking forward to watching him get better and better. And I think he was talking about that as well.
“He battled against two really good big guys, three big guys, I should say. And we all did. We adjusted our ball screen coverage. I think that’s why we were able to slow down [Christian] Koloko a little bit in the second half. We made some adjustments. But he made free throws. Give him credit for that. Got to the line and he stayed out of foul trouble. Obviously we had a number of guys in foul trouble. That was a challenge. But I thought Eddie was terrific both offensively and defensively and a great leader for us.”
On expecting a whistle on last possession in regulation: “I think everyone’s seen it, is talking about it. We’re going to handle it the right way. That’s what we discussed. And because that’s what these guys have done. They’ve been class all year long and we’re going to handle it the right way. So we’ll defer to — we’ve got the best officials in the country working these games. That’s the situation we were in.”
On looking ahead to next season with everybody who played Sunday being eligible to return: “Obviously at some point that’s been discussed and looked at. You’re always building programs, teams. We’ve got some guys that have some opportunities. They have to look at their situations. We’ll support them along that process and be involved in that and see what occurs.
“There’s still a lot of things to plan, still some games left in the tournament. But I know these guys love each other. I know they love playing with each other. And they love TCU. We’re obviously in a different world now, but we’re going to try to get through this loss here first and this disappointment from it. So that’s where we’re at.”
