FORT WORTH — There is something to be said for showing mercy on a rival burdened with having to share home with the Texas Legislature for the semester.
On the scale of funk, the stench transcends Bevo on a bad stomach.
Of course, that’s not why TCU let Texas off the hook Wednesday night after putting the Burnt Orange on the ropes with a double-digit lead early in the second half.
The Horned Frogs, the top-scoring team in the Big 12 at 76 points a game, didn’t have the offensive brawn to deliver a knockout thwack.
Rather, TCU showed a new way to win, which should come as no surprise considering the Frogs’ new, evolving look. Kouat Noi probably won’t ever appear on any All-Big 12 defensive teams, but with his long 6-foot-7 frame in the starting lineup instead of the departed 6-2 Jaylen Fisher, the Frogs are playing bigger and longer.
You could tell the difference on Wednesday as the Frogs sent UT back home with a fourth consecutive loss at Schollmaier Arena.
TCU beat the Longhorns, 65-61, with defense and rebounding, holding the Longhorns to 12 points below the Frogs’ average of 73 points given up a game. The Frogs, 14-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big 12, out-rebounded Texas by nine and collected 14 offensive rebounds.
Noi had a career-high 11 rebounds and 15 points for a first career double-double. Desmond Bane had a game-high 17, including two very timely circus layups, one a reverse that required assistance from the gods, in the last five minutes that spurred the Frogs partisans, who generated that necessary crowd energy to help the home team hold off the Longhorns (11-8, 3-4).
Kevin Samuel had a game-high 13 rebounds.
Texas had the ball in the half court down three with 10 seconds left but couldn’t manage anything other than an unanswered prayer.
“We’ve been trying to get that rebounding going and find ways to win games that way. That’s what we did tonight,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “With the lineup we went with I figured we’d get better defensively. It’s going to take some adjustment offensively.”
The game was the first with TCU’s new roster fully intact after redrawing, the result of four transfers at Christmas break.
Fisher’s departure last week was the most impactful on game day, but the others affected what’s done at the most crucial time of the week, when we’re not watching, at practice.
Dixon joked that the day’s first triumph was that no one was limping.
Noi was the most recent to return from the injury report, missing Saturday’s game against Kansas State, a loss, because of illness. Lat Mayen and Russell Barlow – which translates in English to “great name” – are trying to get better acquainted with the game. Mayen has been hurt all year, and Barlow was expected to be a redshirt until Saturday.
This team is nothing if not hardy, perhaps built now for a game like Wednesday’s when baskets were hard to come by.
Woe? Pfft … lived it.
Still, as Dixon noted, this team is a sculpture in progress, probably behind its Big 12 peers at this point because of all the change.
The arrival of Florida on Saturday would seem to be a timely opportunity to work on his rotation and guys like Noi, who has a new role in the offense, Mayen and Barlow to get acclimated in a non-conference setting.
Dixon’s head twisted around like that little girl in the Exorcist when such a thing was suggested.
Coaches don’t think that way. While Florida is 11-7 this season, the Gators might as well be 1990 UNLV.
While getting this thing in line, Dixon also has to consider what Jerry Palm thinks.
Coaches make it through each day on Rolaids and wondering what Jerry Palm had for lunch.
Jerry Palm, the Kreskin of the NCAA Tournament, keeps a running forecast of the postseason tournament that counts. Coaches spend as much time each day looking at RPI, NET and Jerry Palm as the average adult does on Facebook at work.
The Frogs at the moment are very much on Jerry Palm’s mind.
“I don’t look at it any different, let’s put it that way,” Dixon said. “It’s a game we’ve got to win. We’re battling every day for RPI, NET and all those things. We’ve got to play better, get better. It’s an opportunity to get better. That’s how I look at it.”
Jerry Palm noted what the Frogs did on Wednesday, which was learn how to win a different way.
