Texas heads to Fort Worth in desperate need of corner-turning win over No. 25 TCU

If the Texas men’s basketball team’s trip north to Fort Worth to play No. 25 TCU on Saturday at 1 p.m. on ESPN2 seems like it’s put-up-or-shut-up time, well, maybe it is. 

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On the heels of two losses to ranked Big 12 Conference teams and contests against two more teams currently listed in the top 12 and another versus a team they’ve already lost to on the immediate horizon, the Longhorns find themselves desperately needing to make (another) statement and find a way to turn the corner.

“I think this team still has a high ceiling,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said after the loss. “We have a good team. We’ve got to stay the course, but we control our own destiny.”

Saturday’s game is the fifth straight for the Longhorns (14-7, 3-5 Big 12) against a team ranked in the Top 25. Texas has split the first four of those contests, beating then-No. 9 Baylor at home and No. 11 Oklahoma on the road before losing at No. 21 BYU and at home to No. 4 Houston in overtime.

Texas’ loss to Houston on Monday was a 75-72 setback in which the Longhorns’ Max Abmas scored 20 points and Dillon Mitchell had 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Longhorns trailed by four with 10 seconds left in overtime before Abmas was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining. He made the first two free throws to bring Texas within two points and missed the third intentionally, but the rebound was taken by Houston. 

Dylan Disu added 14 points before fouling out for the Longhorns, who lost for the fifth time in eight games despite scoring the most points against Houston’s top-ranked defense this season.

“It’s not enough for us, trying to come close or having a moral victory,” Terry said after the loss. “We’re not in it for moral victories. We compete at the University of Texas to win. I know our guys tried to do that tonight at a very high level. No disappointment in their effort, or their want-to, and want to win. We’ll keep working hard and keep trying to get better in this league.”

Good luck with that. Texas’ aforementioned four opponents after the Horned Frogs are No. 12 Iowa State and West Virginia, which beat the Longhorns on Jan. 13 at home, then a repeat battle on the road against No. 4 Houston and at home against Kansas State.

TCU (16-5, 5-2 Big 12) has won three straight games, the latest an 85-78 slugfest at home versus No. 15 Texas Tech on Tuesday. Trevian Tennyson led TCU with 23 points while Micah Peavy added 18 as the Horned Frogs canned a season-high 11 3-pointers to help rally from an 11-point first-half deficit.

TCU ripped off a 24-9 run over the final seven and a half minutes of the first half and took a four-point lead to the break. 

“We’ve played in these types of games and we’ve been through it before,” said Tennyson, “You can’t get down and sit on it because the lead will only continue to grow.” 

The Horned Frogs never trailed after halftime, drawing away to a 12-point advantage before Texas Tech rallied to within 81-78 left with 19 seconds before JaKobe Coles came off the bench to sink four straight free throws over the final 14 seconds to seal TCU’s fourth win this season over a team ranked in the AP Top 15.

“We found ourselves down 11 because we were falling to execute on defense and that never really changed the whole game,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “There was a stretch in the second for we changed up our defense and I think that helped – that was key in the second half.”

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Saturday’s game is the only time this year Texas and TCU will play and the last time the Longhorns are scheduled to battle the Horned Frogs.