TCU basketball loses lead, can’t close out upset of No. 6 Michigan — PHOTOS
Despite a strong first half and a terrific defensive effort, TCU men’s basketball fell 67-63 to the No. 6-ranked Michigan Wolverines on Friday at Schollmaier Arena.
The Wolverines were the highest-ranked team to come to TCU since No. 1 Kansas visited in 2003.
TCU’s defense set the tone early with a zone that gave the Wolverines fits and forced six turnovers in the first six minutes of the game, a portent of things to come.
TCU led 16-8 and 21-13 en route to a 35-33 halftime lead.
Despite the Horned Frogs’ strong start, their offense ground to a halt in the second half, shooting 32.3%, and the Wolverines took advantage. Michigan went ahead for good with just over six minutes remaining and extended its lead to 61-54 with more than two minutes to play.
TCU (2-2) cut the lead to 63-61 with a little under a minute left and had a chance to tie or take the lead. However, Tanner Toolson missed a jumper with 23 seconds left, and Michigan (3-0) closed out the game at the free-throw line.
Here’s how the Horned Frogs almost pulled off the upset:
1. Stingy defense
The Wolverines scored 121 and 85 in their first two games, but struggled all night against an opportunistic Horned Frogs defense that forced 22 turnovers.
Michigan came into the game shooting 55% from the field and 38% from 3 but was held to 43% and 31%, respectively, on Friday.
TCU junior guard Brock Harding said despite the turnovers, the Horned Frogs getting outrebounded 44-23 was unacceptable.
“I think our pressure and our ball screen coverage was really good,” the Iowa transfer said. “I think that was a big focus for us, but I think just you can see finishing plays, making sure everybody goes in rebounds. That was our biggest struggle tonight. So defense doesn’t matter if we can’t finish without a rebound.”
Sophomore forward Micah Robinson echoed the sentiment that the team had to finish off possessions.
“Coach [Jamie Dixon] kind of mentioned it during his little postgame talk,” Robinson said. “But I feel like we, like, initially executed our defensive game plan up until the point of finishing the play. So I feel like they got easy second-chance opportunities off with scrambles and tip balls. So I mean, I really feel like defensively, we were solid for the most part, but I feel like the rebounding aspect and just the finishing plays aspect, we could have been much better.”
While TCU did struggle on the boards due to being undersized, the Horned Frogs didn’t let 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara have much of an impact on the offensive end, with the big man scoring six points and having many more turnovers (five) than assists (one).
2. Second-half offense sinks Horned Frogs
TCU came into the game shooting 29% from beyond the arc and continued its struggles there, shooting 29% (7-for-24) in the game. Only two players, Jayden Pierre (2-for-7) and Robinson (2-for-3), made more than one 3-pointer.
Dixon talked about the 3-point attack after the game, but focused on rebounding as the team’s main issue.
“I didn’t think we got the shots we wanted to get,” he said. “We need to get more offensive rebounds; we need them to get less defensive rebounds. That’s the simplest way to put it, the most obvious way to put it. ... We can’t sustain good offense right now. “
The Horned Frogs didn’t fare much better from the field, going 9-for-20 on layups in the game, and shooting 23-for-62 overall (37%).
3. Harding takes the lead
Harding led TCU in points (15), rebounds (six) and assists (four) and talked about his role as a leader for this team.
“I know in big games like this, there can be some nerves for some people. Just talking to guys, telling them to embrace those nerves,” Harding said. “[Michigan] wanted to give up kind of mid-range jumpers. Kind of just let me do what I wanted to do down there. I think we got some open shots, and guys hit shots and then rebounds kind of just came to me because our big guys were working as hard as they could to make sure that their guys didn’t get the rebound. ... So I think just, stats just kind of came. I think tonight was just my night.”
Harding was the only Horned Frog to make more than one field goal in the second half (4-for-7), scoring nine of TCU’s 28 points.
The Horned Frogs next host Kansas City at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
This story was originally published November 14, 2025 at 10:27 PM.
