Only moments after his team was thoroughly basted at the hands of a good Lipscomb basketball team on Tuesday, TCU coach Jamie Dixon found a bright side.
“This does not end our season,” Dixon said in jest as he left the interview room in the bowels of Schollmaier Arena. “This is not football and the [CFP]. We’ve got a lot of games left, and we will get better.”
The Horned Frogs needed more than a little Charlie Brown optimism while looking nothing like their No. 18 ranking in a 73-64 loss to the Bisons. (In the Athens of the South, that’s apparently how they make a plural out of the a humpbacked shaggy-haired wild ox native to North America.)
Two worrisome topics surfaced during the 40-minute meeting.
TCU got beat like a pinata by the more physical Lipscomb (4-1), a veteran, senior-laden team that outscored the Frogs by 23 points after being down 14 with 8:47 left in the first half. The Bisons swept DFW with a victory over SMU on Saturday.
The Frogs got the game to within a possession late, but it was Lipscomb that knew what to do at nut gathering time.
They beat the ball down low, taking advantage of a size difference with TCU 6-foot-11 center Kevin Samuel in foul trouble. He was also missed as the Bisons successfully cut backdoor time and again in the second half as the Frogs tried to extend their defense.
“It turned into a game we didn’t want to be playing,” Dixon said. “Obviously, a disappointing night for us. They outplayed us, they out-coached us.”
None of that was good, of course, but it wasn’t the chief concern.
The Frogs, now 3-1, have an offense problem.
As was mentioned by the wizard wits on press row, what is it with TCU and offense? The football team will conclude its regular season on Saturday and still hasn’t cracked the code on offense.
The basketball team hasn’t either, and it wasn’t something the return of Jaylen Fisher or Kouat Noi could fix.
Fisher started and played seven minutes in his first action of the season. He contributed two fouls and didn’t play in the second half.
He simply wasn’t comfortable, Dixon said, and it was apparent.
Noi had nine rebounds in 23 minutes but shot 1-of-7 from the field. He missed a good 3-point look from the corner with 1:30 left that would have tied the game.
The Frogs managed only one point the rest of the way.
Lingering problems persisted on Tuesday.
TCU hasn’t executed in the half court or in transition in the first few weeks of the season. The Frogs also haven’t rebounded well on the offensive end, and that has some to do with poor shot selection, in the opinion of the coach.
TCU also had more turnovers – 16 – than assists – 15.
“We came out ready, defended really well early, but our offense never got going,” Dixon said. “That’s kind of been our M.O. through these four games. We’ve got to work on it, we’ve got to get better at it, we’ve got to cut down on turnovers … we’ve got a lot of improvements.”
The lack of rhythm on the offensive end probably shouldn’t surprise.
In addition to missing Fisher and Noi, the Frogs are also working in seven new players, including Lat Mayen and Angus McWilliam, who both have also missed time with injuries.
The rotation is ever changing, dictated, for one, by game circumstances. But Dixon said he has found the team more often than not practicing one way and then with a different set on the floor in games.
That inconsistency has hurt the offense.
“I’m putting teams out there that I don’t feel we’ve practiced enough with them,” Dixon said. “It’s not anybody’s fault, it’s just the situation we’ve been in.”
Samuel was in foul trouble, but Dixon also needed to go with a smaller lineup anyway because he needed penetrators to create offense against Lipscomb, which, to its credit, got after the Frogs defensively.
Freshman guard Kendric Davis did that with 14 points in 12 minutes, including 12 points in the second half.
“I simply didn’t think we would struggle as much as we did offensively. We haven’t been very good,” Dixon said. “It’s been a unique experience, but you’ve got to figure it out.”
One loss doesn’t end a season, that is indeed good news.
So, too, is the reality that TCU has until January and the start of the Big 12 to solve this jigsaw puzzle and an offense with freezer burn.
(Headline photo by TCU Athletics)
