TCU

Tuesday, January 16th, 2024
7:00 PM
Fifth Third Arena
ESPN+

The Bearcats (12-4, 1-2 Big 12, NET #33, KenPom #32) return home for the first of two consecutive home games to take on TCU (13-3, 2-1 Big 12, NET #29, KenPom #22) who recently entered this week's AP Poll as the 19th ranked team in the country.

The Horned Frogs are led by 8th-year head coach Jamie Dixon and have had a successful first half of the season largely in part due to their experience.

Their 10-man rotation features 1 2nd-year player, 2 4th-year players, 6 5th-year players, and 1 7th-year player.

The most notable player of that bunch is 5th-year 6'7 forward Emanuel Miller who averages 17, 6, and 3 while slashing 50/40/85.

TCU has started Big 12 play on a very threatening note, bouncing back from a 83-81 controversial loss at Kansas to beat highly ranked Oklahoma (80-71) and Houston (68-67) at home.

The Horned Frogs are notable for being the fastest team in the Big 12 (41st nationally in Adjusted Tempo) and currently lead the country in fastbreak scoring with nearly 23 points/game.

As a result, they shoot an impressive 55.2% on 2-point shots as a team while producing one of the nation's best assist rates with nearly 19/game.

The Bearcats are 3-point favorites.

TCU presents yet another elite offense for us to try to slow down. They get to the rim an astounding 31 times per game, accounting for 49% of their field goal attempts. Trevian Tennyson is the only guy who's exclusively a shooter, everyone else is looking to get in the paint. The key to the game on defense is clear - defend the rim.

On defense TCU is top 15 in creating turnovers, which is part of how they get to the rim so much. They are also good at defending the three point line but just ok at defending the interior and rebounding misses, again because they are aggressive and looking to get out on the break. The key to the game on offense is taking care of the ball. We have to focus on eliminating live ball turnovers.

I'd consider running two bigs out there. That would give us an advantage on the glass and protecting the rim. I would rather try to pass than dribble through the defense. I'd also run our 1-3-1 zone when we have only one big to defend the lane better. We'll be much more comfortable if we can turn this into a half court game.

3 live ball turnovers at the first media timeout. Absolutely cannot happen against this team. TCU is shooting it really well, but we can't be giving them extra possessions.

Newman was the glue that held us together that half. TCU only scored 7 points over the final 13:19. Hopefully we can keep that same defensive intensity in the second half.

Can't afford any more 4+ minute FG droughts. Hopefully we got them all out of our system for the remainder of the game.

Finally got a close one to swing our way. Not sure if storming the court is the right move, but whatever.

Incredible defensive performance again. Overcame unexpected hot perimeter shooting from TCU and held them under 42% from two with 19 turnovers. I'm surprised we never tried the zone, I think it would have helped against Nelson especially. But Day Day and Newman were outstanding defensively, plus they were our leading scorers with 20+ each. We're starting to form an identity around those two as perimeter harassers to go with interior length.

sedziobs said:

Finally got a close one to swing our way. Not sure if storming the court is the right move, but whatever.

Incredible defensive performance again. Overcame unexpected hot perimeter shooting from TCU and held them under 42% from two with 19 turnovers. I'm surprised we never tried the zone, I think it would have helped against Nelson especially. But Day Day and Newman were outstanding defensively, plus they were our leading scorers with 20+ each. We're starting to form an identity around those two as perimeter harassers to go with interior length.

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Gotta remember that this was probably the first victory over a ranked opponent most of those students have seen in person, haha.

Free throw shooting and defensive rebounding left a lot to be desired - particularly in the second half, but the defensive effort was the great equalizer.

Queens_NYC said:

Gotta remember that this was probably the first victory over a ranked opponent most of those students have seen in person, haha.

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TCU should be proud. Probably hasn't happened to them very often.

We've now held BYU, Baylor, and TCU (all top 30 offenses) under a point per possession. Tonight we beat TCU at their own game. We got to the rim 35 times and forced 19 turnovers. Day Day had as many rim looks by himself as our entire team had midrange attempts. That's the way to score when shots aren't falling. Vik and Newman were extremely efficient, scoring 29 points from the field on only 18 shots. Day Day and Skillings were able to create in tough late clock situations, scoring 30 points from the field on 28 shots.

We did a great job on their two high usage guys, Miller and Nelson. They scored a combined 25 points but needed 29 shots to do it and they turned it over 6 times. Tennyson's outside shooting is really the only thing that was reliable for them. It still frustrates me that we don't guard shooters the right way. We play them as if we're scared of the drive. Our defense could be truly elite if we figure that out.

This game had me pulling my hair out. More specifically Thomas and Bandaogo.

Those two never seem to notice a defender right where they are trying to pass or dribble. The turnovers often were on the most simple of things that they managed to mess up.

I'm really surprised Thomas is getting so many minutes over James, as they do many things alike in some ways, but James seems better at penetrating.

I know scoring wise Thomas had a great game, but so much effort could have been avoided had he protected the ball better.

I am really happy to see them drive to the hoop more. I've been talking about this at my house since before the crosstown shootout that that is what will help this team win close ones.

Lakhin is still impressing with how hard he works. Kind of surprised we don't see more plays to open up Lukosius, as he was a pretty good shooter at Butler.

I really thought they had a chance to beat Texas and Baylor, despite some of these continuing issues. Glad they pulled one out. I don't know if TCU was top 25 legit, but they are a good team. Our size was a great advantage.

sirthought said:

I'm really surprised Thomas is getting so many minutes over James, as they do many things alike in some ways, but James seems better at penetrating.

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I said the same thing after the BYU game, but Day Day is getting to the rim and his defense has been winning games for us. TCU's two point guards (Nelson and Anderson) took 20 shots but only scored 16 points and had 10 turnovers. Our offense has been treading water in conference play, but defense has been dominant and Day Day has been a big part of that, along with Newman.