This unlikely hero helped TCU basketball avoid another ugly loss
TCU basketball turned to an unlikely hero in its 80-56 win over Florida A&M on Sunday afternoon at Schollmaier Arena.
Before the game, reserve guard RJ Jones had played in just 15 total minutes this season, but with the Horned Frogs (9-3) facing a potential upset bid by the Rattlers (3-7), head coach Jamie Dixon turned to Jones to provide a spark.
Jones responded by tying his career-high with 14 points and four 3-pointers to help TCU avoid a brutal loss before the start of Big 12 play.
“I just wanted to come in and be ready,” Jones said. “Even though I haven’t played in the last couple of games, I wanted to stay ready in case situations like this happen. I’m glad I was able to be ready and help my team get this win.”
It was a special moment for the Denton native. Jones transferred to the Horned Frogs after a promising freshman season at Kansas State, but he missed the entire 2024-25 season with an injury and struggled to crack the rotation this season.
“It makes me feel great that I was able to come in there and be ready,” Jones said. “I wanted to do anything this team needed to get the win. I played my role, don’t have to do too much but the little things on defense and on the offensive end. I’m just grateful this opportunity happened.”
Without Jones, TCU would’ve added a loss that was even more damaging than the season-opening upset to New Orleans.
“It’s good to see that RJ was ready,” Dixon said. “He’s worked hard, he’s practiced hard every day. He knocked down the open shots we weren’t making early. That was great to see and got everybody else going.”
The Rattlers have lost by 20 or more five times this season, and there was a clear talent gap between the two teams.
Despite that, the first half was a tough watch, as the Horned Frogs’ offense was out of sync with starting forward Liutauras Lelevicius missing the game with an illness.
It took TCU nearly four minutes of game action to score its first field goal, and the struggles would get even worse when sophomore forward David Punch picked up two fouls in the half.
Punch is the team’s best rebounder and best overall player. Without him on the floor, TCU was unable to put a dent in the Rattlers’ lead despite Florida A&M not playing well.
The Rattlers led 28-19 with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.
“We were lackadaisical on defense. They got a lot of wide-open shots,” junior forward Xavier Edmonds said. “That’s unacceptable with a team like that because we know we’re going to play more high-level teams that are going to take advantage of that.”
Desperate to find some type of scoring punch, Dixon turned to Jones off the bench, and he quickly made an impact by knocking down a 3 and another bucket to cut TCU’s deficit to 28-24 at halftime.
Jones continued to knock down clutch jumpers with two 3-pointers during the Horned Frogs’ 13-3 run to start the second half.
Jones would hit his third 3 of the half to increase TCU’s lead to 44-36 with 14:02 remaining. An offense with no direction in the first half finally began to find a rhythm and put the game away.
The Horned Frogs went on a 17-6 run after Jones’ third 3 to take a 61-42 lead with 8:15 remaining, and TCU cruised the rest of the way to pick up its fourth straight win. Edmonds also scored a career-high 21 points and added seven rebounds.
The Horned Frogs will have one final nonconference game against Jackson State on Dec. 29 before facing Baylor in its Big 12 opener on Jan. 3.
This story was originally published December 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM.
