TCU loses again to OU, looks ahead to Big 12 tournament

If TCU wasn’t going to win its regular-season finale Saturday — and playing No. 6 Oklahoma, that qualified as a long shot — at least the team wanted to get something out of it for next week in Kansas City, Mo.

The Horned Frogs arguably got that done.

Brandon Parrish scored 20 points, and the Horned Frogs shot 43 percent and forced 17 turnovers in their 75-67 loss to the Sooners at Schollmaier Arena.

“Hopefully we can use the momentum from this game and shift it over and extend our life for the rest of the season,” Parrish said.

TCU (11-20, 2-16) will meet Texas Tech in a first-round game at the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City next week. They’ll take a sense of accomplishment despite what is now a seven-game losing streak.

“We had a lot of guys step up defensively,” Parrish said. “That team had 17 turnovers. Their assists exceed their turnovers by two most times. So I think we did a good job defensively in kind of shaking them up.”

TCU led until the 9:17 mark of the first half, when national player of the year candidate Buddy Hield hit his second 3-pointer to make it 19-18, and the game stayed close until the final seven minutes.

That’s when TCU’s Chris Washburn missed the first of a 1-and-1 bonus, Dinjiyl Walker hit a 3 for Oklahoma, Washburn missed a 3, then Hield scored for a 57-50 lead with 6:17 left. Hield’s 3 on the next possession made it 60-52, and that was all the separation the Sooners needed.

Oklahoma finished 11 for 22 on 3-pointers.

“They did what great teams do — not good teams, that’s a great basketball team — they capitalized and hit a 3,” TCU coach Trent Johnson said of the Sooners following the Washburn missed free throw. “I can’t fault our effort. I mean, obviously we were our own Achilles’ heel at times. But a lot of that had to do with the caliber of this team that we were playing.”

“The score’s indicative of that,” Johnson said. “I think it was a great improvement, because when we played them the first time at their place, we were really healthy. And this time, we weren’t exactly healthy.

“But that’s been our problem all year long — we’ve been real inconsistent, whether it’s been at home or on the road, with our play. We’ve got to find a way to finish this thing with a positive taste in our mouth in terms of ... winning a game.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 3:47 PM with the headline "TCU loses again to OU, looks ahead to Big 12 tournament."