TCU rebounds from loss, takes down Alcorn State Tuesday, 71-48
TCU beat Alcorn State 71-48 Tuesday night at Schollmaier Arena rebounding from their loss to Michigan.
The Braves hung around with the Horned Frogs early thanks to some timely offensive rebounds and uneven offensive performance.
The Horned Frogs went on an 18-6 run to close the half powered by multiple buckets from Frankie Collins and David Punch and two 3s from Brendan Wenzel.
The Braves would never get the score under double digits in the second half as TCU coasted to a win.
Defensive dominance
The Horned Frogs’ defense dominated the Braves, holding them to a 30.4% shooting percentage while forcing 18 turnovers.
TCU head coach Jamie Dixon liked the team’s defensive effort but said there is still work to be done on that end of the court.
“The defense has got to be the constant and I thought that was pretty good, solid, and we got our numbers our forced turnovers like we wanted to,” Dixon said. “But at the end of the day, the rebounding, the loose balls, the end-of-clock possessions on the defensive end we just didn’t seem to come up with the possessions and that was probably the most disappointing thing.”
TCU’s interior defense was especially elite, only allowing the Alcorn to shoot 9 of 28 at the rim with few easy looks all night from the Braves in the restricted area with freshman forward David Punch consistently turning back shots.
Punch agreed with Dixon’s sentiment on the performance of the defense.
“Honestly, I just say we have spurts of just giving that extra effort. I’m saying, it wasn’t what we like it to be, but it’s definitely coming along,” said Punch.
Ernest Udeh watch
Udeh missed his second straight game of the season with a lower back injury sustained against Texas State. The Horned Frogs again started freshman David Punch as a replacement and used fellow freshman Malick Diallo in a reserve role.
Punch had 10 points, seven rebounds and five blocks in relief and Diallo added six points, and five rebounds in 16 minutes of action.
TCU fared better without Udeh than they did against Michigan but they still struggled on the boards without the big man. Despite outrebounding the Braves overall in the first half, TCU allowed Alcorn to get the advantage on the offensive glass.
In the second half, the Braves outrebounded TCU 22-15 and ended the game with a 36-33 rebounding advantage. This follows the Michigan game where TCU lost the rebounding battle 41-29.
After the game, Dixon said the team’s rebounding issues must be fixed and that he takes responsibility for the team’s struggles over the past two games.
“Rebounding did not recover, we did not respond and that’s disappointing. That’s on me” said Dixon. “We had two practices, and I did not put the emphasis on that as I really sit here and think about that now, the rebounding thing is on me, and we’ve got to go to work on that and get that fixed because this is now what the third game if you count our exhibitions and our scrimmages. This is unacceptable.”
Dixon said he needed his guards to get more involved in the rebounding effort and thought the team should have ended the game with more than their 11 offensive rebounds.
Up-and-down shooting night for TCU
Coming into Tuesday’s game the Horned Frogs were near the bottom of the Big 12 in 3-point shooting with an average of 35% — 12th in the 16-team conference.
However, against the Braves the Horned Frogs put on a clinic from beyond the arc in the first half while shooting 7 of 14.
The second half however was a different story with the team going 1 of 7 from 3-point range while struggling to find a rhythm. TCU ended the game shooting 11 of 32 from the arc.
Despite the results in the first half versus the second, Dixon said he was OK with the team’s 3-point volume.
“I thought we got out in transition, but we just didn’t convert, didn’t shoot, some wide-open threes that we didn’t hit, and that kind of continued throughout the game,” Dixon said. “But I thought our passing was really good. We ended up with 17 assists without really shooting it great. So make some more of those open 3s. I mean, I don’t know that there were any bad shots on those 3s.”
Senior guard Noah Reynolds said the offense was progressing as it should.
“Our 3s didn’t fall the whole time, but, like, but we really got in there, you know, played off two and looked for guys to get open. So, you know, it’s not gonna be perfect every night, but when our intentions are like we had today, I think you know, we’re moving in the right direction,” Reynolds said.
Senior guard Brendan Wenzel led the way for the Horned Frogs with three 3s in the game, continuing his hot shooting from the team’s previous game (5 of 9) against Michigan.
TCU won’t play again until its Thanksgiving tilt against Santa Clara in the Acrisure Invitational at 3 p.m. on Nov. 28 at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, California.
This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 9:07 PM.
