TCU’s defense dominates in the second half of 67-51 win over Florida Gulf Coast
After starting the season with a massive blowout victory, TCU’s offense started slow but came alive late to lead the way in the team’s 67-51 win over the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles on Friday at Schollmaier Arena.
TCU’s defense dominated the game early, keeping the Eagles without a basket for the first three minutes. The Horned Frogs took an early 12-3 lead before their own offensive miscues allowed the game to tighten up.
With TCU narrowly leading 47-46 with 7:02 left in the game, the Horned Frogs went on a 16-3 run punctuated by three-pointers from Micah Robinson, Vasean Allete and Brendan Wenzel in conjunction with a stifling defense. That gave the Horned Frogs a 63-49 lead they would not relinquish.
TCU head coach Jamie Dixon credited the team’s defense for helping them pull out the win while citing a need for improvement from the offense.
“We found a way to get it done defensively, rebounding-wise, got all of our defensive goals, our standards, so that’s a good sign. Offensively, just not very good early and it wasn’t like missing shots, It’s just [that] our decision-making wasn’t great.”
Allete led the Horned Frogs in scoring with 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting with four rebounds and two assists.
Forward Keeshawn Kellman was the high scorer of the game with 18 points off 9-of-11 shooting while adding nine rebounds and an assist and was the only consistent scorer for the Eagles.
Offense struggles
The Horned Frogs half-court offense couldn’t get into a rhythm early in the game. During the first half, the team had more turnovers (eight) than assists (seven) while shooting 41% from the field and 27% from three-point range.
Postgame, Dixon said the team had to be better on offense saying the team was over-penetrating and wasn’t making quick enough decisions.
“Our offense didn’t flow today, it wasn’t as good as it has been,” said Dixon. “I think early on, we weren’t attacking [them] well enough...We got to have lower turnovers and higher shooting percentage and our shooting percentage is based on our shot selection.”
TCU is typically one of the nation’s best transition offenses but had 12 points off the fastbreak, which put more stress on its half-court offense. That’s despite forcing 15 turnovers from the Eagles in the game.
The Horned Frogs finished the game with only one more assist (15) than turnover (14).
Defensive dominance
The Eagles struggled to score outside of Kellman with the team shooting 11 of 39, not counting Kellman, the graduate transfer from Princeton.
No other Eagle shot better than 50% from the field and the team could not take care of the ball consistently in the second half.
After only four first-half turnovers, the Eagles more than doubled that total with 11 in the second half as TCU’s defense swarmed forcing bad passes, and offensive fouls while getting turnovers on almost half (45%) of FGCU’s second-half possessions.
Allette explained that it was trust that allowed TCU to turn up the defensive pressure.
“It was just a matter of just trusting each other, trusting that you could play aggressive. Because even worse comes to worse you get beat, your teammate has got your back, but then you got to help him. We just have to sort of come together as one,” said Allette.
The Horned Frogs also did a great job of contesting shots without fouling: The Eagles ended up with nine free-throw attempts.
Crunchtime minutes for freshman sensation
Highly touted freshman Micah Robinson was a part of the late-game surge that won TCU the game and Wenzel explained how rare it was to have a freshman contribute.
“It’s definitely huge, at a level like this, it’s really hard to make an impact as a true freshman. And even the red shirts, you had, Jace [Posey], Isaiah [Manning], the way those guys are just coming in and making an impact, because it’s hard to do that at a young age, especially at this level. But to see them coming in and doing that, it just shows all the things that we work on,” said Wenzel.
Robinson started 0-for-3 in the game, but finished 4-for-8 scoring nine points with a turnover in 12 minutes and said his teammate’s faith in him gives him confidence in late-game situations.
“My teammates... them trusting me to make open shots, you know, because I first came in the game, I started 0-for-3 for three and they still believe in me, the shots that I put in, the stuff we worked on practice, they still have that trust and faith in me and I really just feed off of that.”
Posey had six points in 11 minutes and Manning was scoreless in seven minutes.
Dixon said that he likes the way Robinson plays but he’s still wants to see more from his forwards.
“He Does everything right, that’s why I like him and at the same time, you know, we got, we got to see how this thing works out,” said Dixon, “We got five guys, and no one has separated themselves.”
Trazarien White led all forwards in playing time with 18 minutes and shot 4-of-5 from the field for nine points with three rebounds and a steal.
TCU plays next on Tuesday at 7 p.m. versus Texas State at Schollmaier Arena.
This story was originally published November 8, 2024 at 9:06 PM.
