TCU Athletics
It’s been a big week for the underdogs in Fort Worth.
Monday at The Fort Worth Club, hosted Cam Ward as the winner of the Davey O’Brien Award, presented to the nation’s top college quarterback.
There was a time when not a single college knew who he was, let alone wanted him. The NFL? Dream on, dreamer.
On Tuesday, Desmond Bane, today a key performer for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, returned home to have his number retired by TCU, his alma mater.
There was a time when not a single college basketball coach — except one — thought he could play major college basketball. The NBA? Dream on, dreamer.
And then there’s the TCU men’s basketball team. There was a time not long ago — like four weeks ago — when no one thought they’d win eight games in the Big 12. The NCAA Tournament? Dream on, dreamer.
Like Cam Ward and Desmond Bane, the Horned Frogs appear poised to savor in the sweet vindication of proving their doubters wrong.
TCU, looking just like that underdog with something to prove, outworked and outgritted No. 9 Texas Tech in a 66-63 victory on Tuesday night at Schollmaier Arena. The victory was TCU’s fifth in its last six games and the Horned Frogs (15-11 overall, 8-7 Big 12) improved to 9-1 this season in games decided by five or fewer points.
The Horned Frogs held the Red Raiders (20-6, 11-4), perhaps the hottest team in the country with seven consecutive victories, to 16 points below their Big 12 leading average of 82.4 by chasing Tech off the three-point line and harassing JT Toppin with double teams. The Frogs also held a decisive rebounding edge of 37-29. Ernest Udeh Jr. had 10 rebounds to go with 11 points for his fifth double-double of the season.
And just like that — voila — the Frogs have hope for a berth in college basketball’s premier postseason tournament, all while playing without their starting point guard, Frankie Collins, who broke his foot in December.
Trazarien White had 16 points, including a jumper that gave TCU a 60-59 lead with 5:25 to play. Teammate Noah Reynolds matched his 16, including seven in the final four minutes. His difficult turnaround jumper from the free-throw line with the Frogs up three with 11 seconds was the clincher.
Texas Tech, meanwhile, went without a field goal the final 4:50 of the game.
Defense and rebounding — and confidence — win games.
“The one thing I tell the guys all the time is that it starts on defense,” said Udeh, a senior. “When we're getting stops and not letting them get second-chance points and we can take it the other way, we're dangerous.
“We were able to do that tonight.”
Many of the Frogs fans in attendance — as always, the crowd included a huge Texas Tech contingent gouged on the secondary ticket market — were there to see Bane bask in his glory. His No. 1 will never be worn by another TCU basketball player and deservedly so.
Bane left Seton Catholic High School in Richmond, Indiana, with only one scholarship offer to play in a major conference. That was TCU.
Bane finished his college career as a two-time All-Big 12 Conference selection during his four years. He is the Horned Frogs' all-time leader in 3-pointers (249), wins (84) and games played (141) and ranks third all-time in points with 1,784.
As a freshman, he played a pivotal role in TCU winning the NIT in New York City.
Bane considered going pro as a junior but likely would have gone undrafted. He returned for his senior season to improve both his game and stock. It worked. Bane, who also earned a degree from TCU, was drafted with the last pick of the first round in 2020. He’s been no mere hanger-on either, averaging more than 17 points per game over five years.
Who’d have thunk it? Certainly not the literally hundreds of college basketball coaches who swung and missed on that scouting report.
“I'm from a small city originally from Indiana, coming all the way down here,” Bane said before the game. “I never imagined something like this. It's a dream come true. I'm extremely blessed and thankful.”
All it takes is one believer. Bane had that in TCU assistant Ryan Miller, who recruited him.
Cam Ward found that guy in Eric Morris, today the head coach at North Texas but then leading the football team at Incarnate Word in San Antonio, an FCS program still in its infancy.
Incarnate Word was Ward’s only offer out of Columbia High School, about an hour south of Houston and that didn't happen until January of his senior year of high school. In high school, Ward played in a run-heavy offense. College coaches didn’t think he could operate in a pass offense.
Ho-ho-ho. In five seasons combined, Ward passed for more than 18,000 yards and 158 touchdowns.
Ward played two seasons at Incarnate Word, leading the Cardinals to the Southland Conference championship. While there he became a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, presented to the most outstanding player in FCS. (An aside: The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, which founded the university, also founded and administered St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Worth for more than 100 years.)
Next, Ward went to Washington State where he played for two years and put up prolific numbers that turned into more and better opportunities.
In 2024, at the University of Miami, he eventually found himself in Fort Worth, Texas, the subject of praise as the Davey O’Brien Award winner and Heisman Trophy finalist.
And the close attention of NFL organizations, one of which will make him a top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. And anyone who passes on him? He’s been there and done that. And he’ll remember you, he said.
“The [high school recruiting] stars mean nothing,” Ward said on Monday. “Once you’re given that label [it’s difficult to shake]. But don’t get complacent. It’s how much you really want it.”
