FORT WORTH – TCU dropped its fifth game in its past six tries on Saturday, unable to dig itself out of a first-half avalanche of mistakes against No. 11 Texas Tech’s smothering defense in an 81-66 loss at Schollmaier Arena.
Kouat Noi had a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds to lead the Horned Frogs, now 6-10 in the Big 12 and 18-11 overall.
The stat sheet showed two crucial metrics: Tech scored 20 points off TCU turnovers, most of those off nine turnovers in the first half, and outscored the Frogs 24-0 off the bench.
The Red Raiders, a team clicking with two games to go in the regular season, swept the Frogs in the season series for a second consecutive year, outscoring TCU by 34 points in the two games.
“Clearly, they executed better defensively and offensively,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “We’re obviously not happy with how we played. We have to find a way to get better and respond in the right way.”
The Frogs will get a chance the day after Sunday with a game Monday night against Kansas State at Schollmaier.
Texas Tech (12-4, 24-5) won its seventh consecutive game to keep pace with the frontrunners of the Big 12. Kansas State, after defeating Baylor on Saturday, will enter as the conference co-leader with Tech. Kansas is a game back.
The Red Raiders opened up the game with a 22-2 run in the middle of the first half, helped along by three TCU turnovers. When the first-half buzzer sounded, Tech had outshot TCU from the field 59.4 percent to 28.6 percent, outrebounded the Frogs by seven and had nine more assists, an indication of how seamlessly the Red Raiders moved the ball.
TCU needed an 8-0 run late in the first half to cut its halftime deficit to 18.
TCU’s 25 first-half points scored was its lowest this season. The previous low was 27 in the game against Tech in Lubbock last month.
“They are extremely disciplined on how they load up,” said TCU guard Alex Robinson, who had 17 points, including 15 in the second half. “Real selfless team on offense and defense. I think that’s their best trait.”
To the short-handed Frogs, whose roster has been depleted by injury and transfer, Tech’s onslaught in the first half was like being “hit in the mouth,” Robinson said. TCU has also been unable to run full practices with so few players.
The Frogs cut the deficit to seven in an early second half surge, but Deshawn Corprew hit a 3-pointer and followed that with a offensive rebound putback. On Tech’s next possession, Matt Mooney drained another 3 to increase the Red Raiders’ lead to 15 in a jiffy.
“We have played the game about as well as we can play it,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. “And then there are spurts that make no sense.”
If Texas Tech can continue to shoot the ball like it did on Saturday, the Red Raiders will be a tough out later in the month. That’s a big if. Tech’s Achilles’ has been difficulty scoring in stretches. But on Saturday, the Red Raiders shot the ball at a 57 percent clip, including 38 percent from 3-point range.
That’s en fuego, señor.
Tech had five guys in double-figures scoring, led by Mooney’s and Jarrett Culver’s 15.
In any other year, the Frogs’ NCAA Tournament hopes would be on life support.
With more teams in the tournament and more conferences having down seasons – see, Pac-12 – the Frogs still project as a 10 or 11 seed despite the recent slide.
Helping is the Big 12’s collective NET ranking, the only league with 80 percent of its teams in the top 43. That figure is a bit deceiving considering the conference has only 10 teams, but eight of 10 is eight of 10.
The mentality going into Monday is that the Frogs’ backs are against the wall.
Four straight losses to end the regular season – TCU is currently riding a two-game skid — would not a good look for the selection committee no matter the circumstances.
“We’ve got to win two,” Robinson said. “We’re extremely focused, and we’ll be ready for Monday.”
Said Dixon: “I still believe in our team and the guys we have. We can play better and that’s what we’re going to do going forward.”
