TCU Athletics
Tuesday began with tornado sirens before dawn, followed by a dust storm at midday.
What was next: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
As it turned out, it was Baylor and Norchad Omier who next wreaked havoc, putting a damper on TCU’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament ambitions.
The Bears defeated the Horned Frogs 61-58 at Schollmaier Arena, hitting three free throws in the final 2.2 seconds, including one by Ormier, who had 18 points and 12 rebounds.
The Frogs got off to poor starts in both halves, falling behind by double digits in each, only to fight back. That circumstance of digging holes had coach Jamie Dixon wringing his hands and wondering what he could have done.
The game was a must-win for the TCU’s tournament hopes.
“This is a game we had to win,” Dixon said. “We knew we were at the bottom of the bubble. This will make it a whole lot harder [to get in the tournament].”
Noah Reynolds had a team-high 16 points for TCU, which might have fared better trying to sink shots out in the 60 mph, Gilligan’s Island-like wind gusts. The Frogs had a hard time getting the ball in the hole. Part of that was bad shot selection, and part of it was simply misfortune.
By rounding up, TCU shot 35% for the game. The Frogs dropped to 16-14 overall and 9-10 in the Big 12.
“We can’t start down 10,” Dixon said lamenting his role in the loss, saying he didn’t have the team ready. “We didn’t guard well enough to start the game. We just didn’t play well enough.”
Omier, a 6-foot-7 forward from Nicaragua, had 16 3-pointers all season. So, of course, he hit two in consecutive possessions to put Baylor up 10 with 10:15 left, a lead the Bears extended to 11.
Yet, Baylor needed to hit free throws in crunch time to win. The Frogs went on a 13-2 scoring run to tie the game at 58-all with 28 seconds left.
Baylor’s Robert Wright knocked down two free throws with 2.2 seconds that sent a spirited home crowd home saying dangit and the visitors triumphantly chanting “BU.”
That BU chant, coincidentally, sounds a lot like “Pee-yew.” Just sayin’.
Anyway, the Frogs are tied for eighth in the Big 12 entering their regular season finale on Saturday at Colorado, which is singing the blues at the bottom of the barrel of the 16-team conference.
The NCAA Tournament committee is expected to take seven from the Big 12 and possibly eight.
So, TCU must win at Colorado and probably need two victories in next week’s Big 12 Tournament to climb Mount Everest-type odds.
In a potential three-way tie for eighth between TCU, Kansas State, and West Virginia, it’s West Virginia, by a hair, that has the best resume.
TCU is 4-10 in NET Quad 1 games. A Quad 1 win refers to a victory against a team that is considered to be in the highest quality bracket of opponents based on their NET — NCAA Evaluation Tool — ranking, meaning a win against a highly ranked team either at home against a top 30 team, on a neutral site against a top 50 team, or on the road against a top 75 team.
TCU is 2-4 in Quad 2. The Frogs have a Quad 4 left against Colorado. West Virginia is 5-10 in Q1 and 4-2 in Q2. The Mountaineers have a Quad 4 remaining against Central Florida. Kansas State is 4-8 and 2-6, with a Quad 1 game scheduled Saturday against Iowa State, ranked 10th nationally.
We’re hoping for the best for Fort Worth Purple.
