Kansas 77, TCU 68: Frogs fall in Lawrence

Dedric Lawson got whatever he wanted on Wednesday night, and his 31 points and 14 rebounds led Kansas to a 77-68 win over the Horned Frogs. A personal 9-0 run from the 10 minute mark of the second half to the eight minute mark for Lawson was enough to stave off TCU’s frantic attempt to come back.

TCU struggled to contain the Memphis transfer, but that wasn’t the Frogs’ biggest issue of the night. 20 turnovers, a season-high number, held the Frogs back as they fell to 1-1 in Big 12 play this season.

It’s nearly impossible to overcome 20 turnovers on a given night, but when you couple that number with the fact that TCU was on the road in Lawrence, against an incredibly deep Kansas team, and it certainly doesn’t bode well.

And yet, the Frogs found themselves down just three in the final minutes of the game. This was largely in part to the fact that TCU out-shot Kansas on the night, 46.3% from the floor to just 43.3% for Kansas. The Frogs also shot 42.9% from three to just 23.8% from the Jayhawks. Both teams pulled down 34 rebounds.

Turnovers were the difference, especially late, as the Frogs made two critical turnovers in the final minute (one was a questionable travel call, sure) to keep from completing the comeback.

TCU went shot for shot with Kansas through the first 14 minutes of the game, but a 14-5 run by the Jayhawks closed out the first half, and had TCU down nine, 40-31. The Frogs signaled they weren’t going to go away easily early in the second half, thanks to two quick baskets from Kevin Samuel (12 points, 8 rebounds) and some quality play from RJ Nembhard and Kendric Davis.

Nembhard finished with a team-high 14 points on the night to go with four rebounds, while Davis finished with four points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Hopefully both can continue to find their rhythm when Jaylen Fisher returns to the lineup. They add some much-needed depth to this roster.

TCU had multiple moments where they could have fallen out of the game completely, but big shots from Desmond Bane and Alex Robinson twice cut Kansas’ lead to just three points in the final four minutes of the game. Both times the Jayhawks responded with baskets on the other end to keep the Frogs at bay.

It was a tough night for Alex Robinson, who shot just 4-12 from the floor and had as many turnovers as assists (4).

Five Horned Frogs wound up in double-figures, compared to just two for Kansas, but Lawson’s 31 was far and away the highest scoring total of the night.

Realistically, this is just one loss in the column for TCU, who falls to 12-2 on the season. It stings because of the way it happened, but the Frogs have plenty of basketball left to play. They pick back up on Saturday, when they travel to Norman to take on Oklahoma. That game tips at 1:00pm.