TCU men’s basketball’s NCAA tournament hopes take a hit in road loss to Cincinnati
TCU’s NCAA Tournament hopes took a hit on Saturday after the Horned Frogs were soundly defeated 75-63 on the road at Cincinnati.
TCU (15-12, 8-8) came into the trending in the right direction as many bracketologists had the Horned Frogs among the first teams just outside of the field. A Quad 1 win over the Bearcats (16-11, 6-10) might’ve been enough to start seeing TCU projected to make the tournament.
But the Horned Frogs were unable to carry the momentum from Tuesday’s top-10 win over Texas Tech as the offense regressed against the Cincinnati defense.
The Horned Frogs started the game just 1-of-12 from the field as Cincinnati jumped out to a 14-3 lead. Freshmen Jace Posey and David Punch helped provide a spark to get the Horned Frogs back in the game.
The two young Horned Frogs combined for 12 points in the first and Posey hit a 3-pointer to cut the Bearcats’ lead to 23-20 with 4:20 remaining in the half.
This was the closet TCU would get for the remainder of the afternoon as Cincinnati guard Jizzle James started to get hot from the field. James answered Posey’s 3 and then added another basket later as the Horned Frogs trailed 31-24 at the half.
It was still a winnable game at this point, despite the sluggish start. However, the Bearcats didn’t need long to break the game open in the second half.
Cincinnati opened the second on a 10-2 run led by James as the Horned Frogs fell behind 41-26 with 16:23 remaining in the game. The Bearcats would lead by as many as 20 points as Texas transfer Dillon Mitchell became a matchup problem for the Horned Frogs.
Mitchell scored eight of his 12 points in the second half while adding seven rebounds. The Horned Frogs made a late rally and cut it to 66-57 on a basket by Punch with 2:15 remaining, but the Horned Frogs gave up a three-point play to Josh Reed a few moments which ended the comeback attempt.
Punch led TCU with 18 points and six rebounds while Vasean Allette added 13 points. James led Cincinnati with 18 points.
It’s a missed opportunity for the Horned Frogs as TCU has just two Quad 1 opportunities remaining on the road at West Virginia on Feb. 25 and the rematch at home against Baylor on March 4.
This story was originally published February 22, 2025 at 1:08 PM.
