TCU 65, #18 Texas Tech 54: Frogs upend Red Raiders to stay perfect at home

Fort Worth, Texas - TCU upset #18 Texas Tech on Tuesday night 65-54, thanks to 27 points from senior Desmond Bane and an incredible defensive effort.

In addition to Bane’s 27 points he pulled down six rebounds, and added three assists and three steals on the night. After the game, Tech coach Chris Beard had nothing but praise for the TCU senior.

“I thought Bane was fantastic. One of my favorite players in the Big 12, a guy that will make a living playing basketball. A guy that’s worked on his game and developed his game over the years,” Beard said, “I have so much respect for Bane and he took the game over tonight. He was the best player on the floor.

Kevin Samuel added an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double on the night and he talked about positioning as a reason for his success on the night.

Diante Smith added eight points and three rebounds in almost 19 minutes, as the freshman put together a second-consecutive good outing.

The Frogs hung around in the first half after seeing an early lead disappear. Leading 8-2, then 10-7, the Frogs saw Tech use a 15-5 run to establish a 23-15 lead at the 8:40 mark of the first half.

TCU rallied, though, using buckets from Bane and Samuel, followed by a three from Edric Dennis, to pull within 25-22.

The final minutes saw Tech and TCU go back and forth, with a Diante Smith basket in the final seconds keeping the Frogs in range, trailing 31-27 at the break.

TCU forced Tech into bad shots most of the night, but they truly clamped down to open the second half. Over the first 11:06 of the second half TCU held the Red Raiders to just seven points on 3-10 shooting from the floor, with four turnovers. During that same time span the Frogs poured it on, scoring 24 points to take a 51-38 lead.

Tech wouldn’t go away quietly, though, despite the TCU fans overwhelming the rowdy Tech fans in the building.

A 6-0 spurt out of the under-8 timeout cut TCU’s 55-42 lead to 55-48, and the Tech fans in the building started to get loud.

Francisco Farabello calmly hit two free throws, followed by two free throws from R.J. Nembhard, to push TCU’s lead back to double digits at 59-48 with 3:46 remaining.

The Frogs maintained an 8-11 point lead the remainder of the way, as the Schollmaier grew louder and louder as the clock counted toward triple zeros.

In victory, the Frogs remain perfect at home in Big 12 play (3-0). Having already stolen a road win, which Bane said afterward is like “finding gold” in the Big 12, TCU finds themselves at 4-2 in conference and 13-5 on the season.

TCU now heads to Fayetteville for the Big 12-SEC Challenge, where they’ll face 14-3 Arkansas.

Check out the full postgame comments here: