Potent Big 12 offers TCU ‘no place to hide,’ Trent Johnson says
No one has to tell TCU coach Trent Johnson what is becoming more and more clear — his team isn’t as talented as others in the Big 12.
The Horned Frogs (10-13, 1-9) have only one league win in 10 tries going into Monday night’s home game against Oklahoma State. But until Saturday’s dispiriting loss to Kansas, they had not spent a lot of time looking like a less talented team.
“You can make a lot of excuses for a lot of things, but the bottom line is, the things we can control are the ability to be physical, put a body on people, block out, take care of the ball,” Johnson said after the 75-56 loss to the Jayhawks, in which his team was outrebounded 46-25.
“I thought for the most part, the last week or two, we did a decent job trying to take care of the ball. But mentally, physically, in this league, in league play — which is where we’ve had our problems day in, day out — there’s no place to hide.”
Mentally, physically, in this league, in league play — which is where we’ve had our problems day in, day out — there’s no place to hide.
TCU coach Trent Johnson
When TCU didn’t match Kansas’ early game energy, there was little chance for the game to be competitive.
Asked if his team is becoming discouraged by the nature of losses such as Saturday’s, Johnson said, “There’s some guys in there who probably should be and are a little discouraged. But they knew it was coming. They knew what they were getting into.”
By that, Johnson likely meant the Big 12, the strongest RPI conference in the country. The Frogs have barely managed a dent.
Honestly, I feel like a lot of the work that needs to be done doesn’t need to be done on the court. We have a lot of work to do on the locker room.
TCU guard Brandon Parrish
“Honestly, I feel like a lot of the work that needs to be done doesn’t need to be done on the court,” junior guard Brandon Parrish said. “We have a lot of work to do on the locker room. We need to come together and see how we want to end this season.”
Monday night the Frogs play the Oklahoma State team that got their conference season off to a rocky start. TCU shot 30 percent and lost 69-48 on Jan. 2 in Stillwater.
But Oklahoma State’s season has not taken off, either, in part because of an injury that sidelined Phil Forte.
Oklahoma State (11-12, 2-8) beat Kansas 86-67 on Jan. 19, but has lost its past four Big 12 games.
“I fully expect these guys to bounce back a little bit,” Johnson said of his team. “But what are we talking about here? We got handled by one of the premier programs in the country with some of the premier talent in the country.
“I’m not pushing the panic button in terms of where we are as a program or throwing salt on wounds. I’m just trying to get my guys to understand that in that locker room, in practice, that’s where we can get some of these things corrected.”
Parrish is all for it. Time is running out on his third year in Fort Worth and Johnson’s fourth.
“It’s something I think about day in and day out, my record here as a Horned Frog,” Parrish said. “I don’t really think on that for long periods of time, because I feel like it’s not really healthy for me to do that. We want to see this thing go in the right direction more so than anything.”
Saturday, Johnson said of Kansas and his team, “They were right, and we had no fight.”
Monday night is one more chance to change that, and with it, perhaps the outlook of the season.
“Win or lose, you’ve got to go every night and fight,” Parrish said. “If we go out there, where we don’t really show much fight, it’s not a good look on us or a good look for the program.”
Carlos Mendez: 817-390-7760, @calexmendez
TCU men vs. Oklahoma State
6 p.m. Monday, ESPNU
This story was originally published February 7, 2016 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Potent Big 12 offers TCU ‘no place to hide,’ Trent Johnson says."