Wrecked: Texas Tech Survives Late TCU Rally, 76-69

Even with Bram Kohlhausen in the house, TCU couldn't complete the comeback.

Texas Tech held off a late TCU rally to knock off the Frogs 76-69 in Fort Worth tonight. After dropping their last four games, the Red Raiders came to Fort Worth with a chip on their shoulder, putting together a dominant shooting performance that ultimately buried the Frogs. Texas Tech shot 26/47 from the field, a red-hot 55.3%.

Toddrick Gotcher hit a dagger-ish shot to give the Red Raiders a 67-59 lead with about five minutes remaining. However a 9-0 TCU run capped off by five Vladimir Brodziansky free throws gave the Frogs a brief 68-67 advantage with under three minutes to go. However, it wasn't meant to be as Texas Tech outscored TCU 9-1 over the last 3:02 to hand the Frogs their third consecutive loss.

The bench shined for Tubby Smith tonight, scoring 46 of the team's 76 total points. Aaron Ross led with 16 points while Justin Gray was just behind with 14. Chauncey Collins led all scorers tonight with 19 points, one shy of tying his career high. The sophomore guard shot 7/15 from the field while also grabbing five rebounds. Vladimir Brodziansky came off the TCU bench to score 18, his most in a Big 12 game. Malique Trent was absent for the third straight game, still sitting due to an unspecified violation of team rules. The Frogs were ultimately done in by a poor shooting night, finishing the game 23/62, a cool 37.1%.

Texas Tech jumped out to an early 6-2 lead before a frustration timeout from Trent Johnson. Whatever he said must have worked, because the Frogs went on a 10-2 run to reclaim the advantage. Both teams would trade blows throughout the middle portion of first half, before Tech's bench grabbed this game by the horns. Tubby Smith's reserves scored 21 of the team's first 34 points to provide an early spark for the Red Raiders.

After Texas Tech opened their largest lead of the half at 34-23, the Frogs switched to a zone defense, resulting in just eight points on 4/9 shooting with two turnovers for the Red Raiders over the last six minutes of the frame. An unfortunate series of events gave Tech two quick points heading in to the locker room. After Tech scored to make it a 40-35 game, JD Miller threw the in-bounds pass out of bounds, giving TTU another opportunity with 1.8 seconds left. A defensive breakdown directly under the basket gave the Red Raiders a 42-35 lead at the intermission.

Texas Tech held momentum into the second half, but it was back-to-back three pointers with just over eight minutes to go appeared to bury TCU for good. After the Frogs cut the deficit to 55-51, Justin Gray and Devaugntah Williams each hit a wide open three at the top of the arc, giving the Red Raiders a 10-point lead. However the Frogs would come storming back. Just minutes later a Toddrick Gotcher three gave Tech a 67-59 advantage. A 9-0 run for TCU gave the Frogs their first lead of the second half. However, another defensive breakdown on the perimeter allowed Aaron Ross to give the Red Raiders a 70-68 lead with just over 2:00 to go.

From there, not much went right for TCU as the Frogs went 0/3 from the field, 1/4 at the line, and committed two turnovers in the game's final 3:00. A layup and four free throws ultimately gave the Red Raiders their 76-69 win.

With the defeat, TCU falls to 9-9 on the year and 1-5 in Big 12 play. More concerning for the Frogs is that the team is running out of chances to win games. Ten of TCU's last 13 games are against ranked opponents, on the road, or both. The Frogs will return to action on Saturday as the team hosts 19th-ranked Iowa State at 3:00 PM.