FORT WORTH — The tape doesn’t lie.
It shows a shot going up from the perimeter, and in a blink, a lean, tall figure on the other side of the 3-point line suddenly rocketing to the basket, erasing ground like a cat bounding for its prey, leaping in one motion on arrival.
It shows the shot bouncing off the rim, hitting high off the backboard and beginning its descent into the figure’s rising hands — almost as if scripted — to be trapped and redirected violently into the basket.
Flush. Two points. Two spectacular points for Kouat Noi, a sight TCU basketball fans saw a lot last week.
The 6-foot-7 forward for the Horned Frogs, a dead-eye 3-point shooter, is beginning to assert himself as a dynamic finisher at the basket. The redshirt sophomore from Newcastle, Australia, delivered rim-shaking follow dunks against Texas and Florida last week and had four in the two games, both TCU victories.
A fifth dunk attempt drew a foul.
What’s going on? Health, surely. Fresh legs, likely after missing a game at Kansas State on Jan. 19 to recover from illness.
That’s only part of it. Mainly, it’s a move to the wing to get him in the starting lineup after he scored 30 points at Oklahoma on Jan. 12, around the time the Frogs began losing players to transfer and injury.
Playing at a smaller spot, matched against smaller players, look out.
“I think moving to the 3-spot led to me crashing the boards much easier,” Noi said. “The 3 position can’t really box me out, so I just run and get to the boards.”
Noi had 11 rebounds against Texas, a career high as part of his first-ever double-double, and six against Florida. The 17 boards are almost double what he would normally have in two games.
Points-wise, the emerging star who prepped in the United States at Montverde Academy in Florida, delivered 37 in the two games. In his last five games, he is clicking off 19.8 a contest.
“We posted him up a little bit today and played through that,” Dixon said after Noi went 8-for-17 shooting in the victory against Florida on Saturday. “And I think it’s made us better defensively. He’s become better guarding on the perimeter.”
Noi may be banging around the basket, but he hasn’t forgotten how to shoot from deep. The Sudan native entered Monday night’s game at Texas Tech with a streak of 3-pointers made in 18 consecutive games, the longest going in the Big 12.
His range and touch are still the biggest reasons Noi ranks ninth in the conference in scoring. His eight 3-pointers in the Oklahoma game tied for second-most ever by a TCU player and matched the most by a Big 12 player this season, joining Lagerald Vick of Kansas, who did it against Vermont.
In dunks? The count is at eight. It’s a modest total — third on the team. But it won’t stay there. Like Noi at the rim, it seems to be climbing.