TCU Falls To West Virginia
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—TCU was unable to match up with West Virginia in a meeting of Big 12 newcomers Wednesday, as the Frogs suffered a 71-50 setback to the Mountaineers at WVUColiseum.
The loss dropped TCU’s season record to 9-10 overall and 0-6 in Big 12 Conference play. West Virginia improved to 9-9 overall and 2-3 in league action while snapping a three-game losing streak.
Sophomore Kyan Anderson led a trio of Horned Frogs in double figures with 19 points. Anderson made 6-of-11 attempts from the floor and 6-of-8 at the free-throw line in 33 minutes of action. He scored nine of TCU’s 22 points in the opening half.
Senior forward Connell Crossland came off the bench for TCU to add 11 points, just one off his career high, in addition to a team-best seven rebounds. Crossland also set a personal best with three of TCU’s six blocked shots. Senior forward Adrick McKinney chipped in 10 points down low for his sixth double-figure performance in the last 13 outings.
Guard Eron Harris paced three Mountaineers in double figures with 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including a 2-for-3 effort from beyond the arc. Harris led a WVU parade to the charity stripe, making 7-of-10 free throws. The Mountaineers totaled 31 free-throw attempts for the
game, the most for a Frog opponent this season, and made 16.
Forward Deniz Kilicli and guard Jabarie Hinds added 11 and 10 points for WVU, respectively. Kilicli and fellow forward Dominique Rutledge pushed the Mountaineers to a 42-30 advantage on the glass by pulling down eight rebounds apiece. Nineteen of WVU’s team rebounding total came on the offensive boards, which led to 20 points.
West Virginia jumped on top of TCU early after senior guard Nate Butler Lind and Anderson had given the Frogs a 6-3 edge less than three minutes into the contest with back-to-back 3-pointers. The Mountaineers responded with a 9-0 run to pull ahead by five, 13-8, with the help of fourconsecutive Frog turnovers. WVU’s pressure defense gave TCU fits in the first half, forcing 10 turnovers.
TCU would never see the lead again. WVU moved in front by as many as 15 points in the opening stanza following a 12-2 run culminatingwith a Frog turnover and fastbreak dunk in the final minute by Kilicli. Anderson sank a pair of free throws with five seconds left in the half to make the score 35-22 at intermission.
WVU continued its push early in the second half, moving on top by 21 points, 49-28, with just under 13 minutes remaining following another big spurt, this one a 13-2 margin. Like it has all season when facing largedeficits, TCU continued to battle. The Frogs scored 14 of the game’s next 18 points, including six by McKinney, to cut the lead back to only 11 before running out of steam. An 11-2 Mountaineer run pushed the margin back over 20 points with just over four minutes remaining and a win out of TCU’s reach.
The Frogs return home for a Saturday matchup against Baylor at 3 p.m. at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The Big 12 Network will televise the game nationally on TXA-21 in the DFW market.
