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Fort Worth, TX - This wasn’t how Senior Day was supposed to end. This wasn’t how Bane’s likely final home game was supposed to end.
TCU led by 20 points in the first half. They led by 19 with 16 minutes left. They led by 13 with 4:39 left.
And yet they lost.
On a Senior Day that was supposed to celebrate Desmond Bane, the Frogs blew their biggest lead of the season to end the regular season, tripping and falling into the Big 12 tournament.
Bane led TCU with 24 points - 19 of which came in the first half. Oklahoma’s defense seemed determined to keep him from scoring after halftime, and the game plan worked. They constantly double-teamed him, inviting literally any other Frog to score instead.
Jaire Grayer added 18 points of his own, hitting six threes on the day. His final three was a desperation heave from half court that banked off the backboard. RJ Nembhard and Kevin Samuel both added twelve points, with Nembhard also dishing out seven assists and Samuel pulling down seven rebounds.
But when it was all said and done, TCU couldn’t close out a Sooner team that limped into the contest, and looked completely disinterested for the first 30 minutes. They shot 38% from the floor in the second half, missed several free throws in the final minutes, and watched Austin Reaves score 15 points in the final five minutes of the game including a jumper with 0.5 seconds left on the clock.
Reaves finished with 41 points on the day.
Sometimes the fairy-tale ending doesn’t happen.
So TCU finishes the regular season 16-15 (7-11), They head now into he Big 12 tournament as the 7-seed, and will face 10-seed Kansas State on Wednesday night.
Check out the full postgame comments below: