TCU at full strength, but goes flat in loss to Iowa State

TCU finally played with a full roster. It did not matter in Saturday’s 73-60 loss to Iowa State.

But maybe it will matter in practice.

“We need to go hard and long,” TCU coach Trent Johnson said. “Obviously, we can now, because we’re as healthy as we’ve been for a while.”

And maybe eventually that will translate into results for the Horned Frogs down the road. Or at least better performances than they delivered at Schollmaier Arena in losing for the sixth time in seven Big 12 games.

TCU (9-10, 1-6 Big 12) was outshot 54 percent to 39 percent, committed 18 turnovers, had six shots blocked and went 4 for 17 on 3-pointers against the team that had given up the most 3-pointers in the league.

Even with guard Malique Trent back in action after missing three games because of a violation of team rules, the Frogs managed only 60 points.

“I would say we need to get better in every part of the game,” sophomore forward Vladimir Brodziansky said. “Offense, defense, doing what Coach says. We’re a really young team. It’s just step by step for us.”

Rarely has the Frogs’ inexperience and talent deficit been more clear than it was against a veteran Iowa State team (15-4, 4-3), the Big 12’s best in asssit-to-turnover ratio and one of its best in shooting percentage.

After falling behind 17-11, the Cyclones went to a zone and watched TCU unravel with 10 turnovers in the final 10:08 of the first half. Monte Morris made a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left in the first half, and Abdel Nader put one in at the halftime buzzer for a 37-28 lead to finish a 26-11 run in which the Cyclones made 9 of 11 shots.

The Cyclones started the second half by hitting 6 for 9 from the field, including back-to-back 3-pointers by reserve Matt Thomas.

It can’t be hard to figure out what Johnson will want to work on in those “hard and long” practices coming up.

“I want to tip my hat to Iowa State, but obviously we’re our own Achilles’ heel right now in terms of crucial situations and crucial games,” Johnson said. “Turnovers, that’s a situation where it’s concentration, it’s repetition, and it’s continually working on your skill level.”

Chauncey Collins finished with 14 points for TCU, Brodziansky had 12 points, and Chris Washburn had 10. But Karviar Shepherd went scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting, and leading 3-point shooter Brandon Parrish had only one attempt and also went scoreless.

It’s hard for the Frogs to win when Shepherd and Parrish go 0 for 11 combined.

So Johnson goes back to figuring out a way to get his team pointed in the right direction.

“I spent way too much time, I thought, trying to get the guys’ confidence up,” Johnson said. “I felt more like a cheerleader. You know, ‘We’re down 8, we’re down 7, we need to finish the half.’ You just got to keep playing, you got to worry about the next play, as opposed to the negative play that happened before.”

Maybe that’s part of what the “hard and long” practices will be about.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 7:09 PM with the headline "TCU at full strength, but goes flat in loss to Iowa State."