Kansas 93, TCU 64: Frogs fall flat against No. 6 Jayhawks

Well, that was tough. TCU caught a very good Kansas team at the very worst time, coming off a record-setting loss at home to Texas on Saturday. Kansas looked every bit of the No. 6 team in the country on Tuesday night, firing away at will as they ran the Frogs 93-64.

Jamie Dixon was a little stunned by the poor performance for the Frogs when he spoke to media after the game.

“Obivously not the performance we wanted to have. Certainly I didn’t see it coming. You think you would come out and play better, but they punched us in the face early and we certainly didn’t respond throughout,” Dixon said. “I didn’t see it coming. I don’t know why it occurred, why we played like we did.”

Of course, as much as TCU played poorly, Kansas also played incredibly well.

“Give them credit for making shots early, and we left them open,” Dixon continued, “We didn’t guard the dribble, we didn’t guard the drive. I was shocked by that. And the rebounding was almost a record setting number for what we did. I’m disappointed in how we played. I need to put together a better plan because this is not how we should play. I’m disapooined in how we played.”

Chuck O’Bannon was a bright spot for TCU, scoring a career high 18 points. The USC transfer shot 6-9 from the floor and hit four threes, as he looked unfazed by the competition. RJ Nembhard added 14 points for the Frogs as he continued his very impressive junior campaign.

Mike Miles finally had his freshman moment though, going 0-X from the floor and being held scoreless. He wasn’t alone in his struggles though. Outside of O’Bannon and Nembhard, no other Frog scored more than eight points, while Kansas had five players in double figures.

Nembhard spoke briefly after the game about what he had to say to Miles, and the rest of the team, after tonight’s performance.

“He’s a freshman. He’s 18 years old. You gotta understand that he’s going to have his ups and downs like all freshman do. I told him to keep his heads up. It’s a long season. He’s a big part of this team. You know we’ve all had those games where you can’t throw a rock in the ocean, but I told him to keep his head up and come strong for Saturday.”

“I just tried to keep the guys encouraged. It’s a long season and we’ve got a lot of games to play. A lot of guys haven’t been in this situation so that’s going to be something that I continue to preach tot hem as we go into another tough opponent on Saturday.”

Frankly, there’s no need to deep dive too much into this one. TCU’s weaknesses were on display against a superior opponent, and yet, the Frogs still have a lot of promise this season.

The road is tough, sure, but the Frogs have to get things back in order quickly. They host No. 2 Baylor at Schollmaier on Saturday at 2pm.