Texas overcomes scorching TCU start with physical second half in 75-66 win

When Texas defeated TCU in late January, the Longhorns turned in a 45-percent effort from the field and a 44-percent night from behind the arc on way to a 73-50 victory. On Wednesday, the Horned Frogs tried to exact revenge in Austin via a blistering shooting night of their own.

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In the first half, TCU shot 65 percent from the floor and 71 percent from three, hitting 5-of-7 attempts. Not only were members of Jamie Dixon’s team making open looks, they were nailing shots with Texas players in close defense. Positive shooting outcomes kept coming for TCU in the early portions of the second half, with the Horned Frogs leading by 10 with 13:20 left.

Texas head coach Chris Beard used a timeout to try to get his team back into the game. Beard said he attempted to calm his players down and told them to stay the course. It helped Texas play a brand of basketball that guided his team to a 75-66 win.

“I thought we did some real good things in the first half but certainly did not sustain it,” Dixon said postgame. “Had a 10-point lead, obviously that got away from us.”

How did that happen? Said Dixon: “They were certainly the more physical team. They knocked us all over the place, especially in the second half.”

Texas was 1-for-14 all night from behind the arc, but it didn’t matter because of their physical play on both ends after halftime. The Longhorns scored 45 points in the second twenty, 18 of them in the paint. Beard’s team forced 10 turnovers after halftime resulting in 18 points.

The physicality played out in the free throw disparity, too. Four different TCU players ended with four fouls, evidence of the UT proclivity for getting to the line. Once they got there, they were extremely successful. Texas finished 17-of-18 from the line during the second half and 24-of-29 for the game. TCU was 8-of-11 at the stripe on Wednesday.

Texas bringing it to Texas Christian wore down the Horned Frogs’ shooting ability. After a hot first half, TCU cooled down to a 42-percent clip in the second half and made only one three-point attempt.

“We turned up our pressure a notch, just listened to coach, followed the game plan,” Carr said. “We were able to execute in the second half.”

Beard admitted it likely wouldn’t have been Texas’ night if they allowed 10 three-point makes. He praised TCU’s Micah Peavy, who Beard tried to get to Texas, for his 11-point performance. Same with Mike Miles, who added 17 points.

But offensive rebounds showed Texas’ physical play in the second half. The Longhorns pulled down 14 offensive boards, earning 12 second chance points. Miles was the only Horned Frog with a good second 20 minutes. Remove his efforts and TCU was 5-of-17.

More than anything, it was the downhill, attacking style toward the basket and on the boards from Andrew Jones, Marcus Carr, and Timmy Allen. Jones topped 20 points for the third consecutive game. Carr added 19 points after dropping a goose egg Saturday versus Texas Tech. Allen added 17 points while pulling down seven rebounds.

“I try to utilize our defense to create easy offense,” Jones said postgame. “I’m playing with who know how to get downhill and create. As long as I’m locked and loaded to shoot, attack closeouts, and do my job to the best of my ability, everything’s going to take care of itself.

The other Longhorn in double figures? Christian Bishop, who scored 10, grabbed seven boards, and blocked five Horned Frog shots. He drew praise from Beard postgame for his career-best night as far as rim protection.

That group of starters, plus Courtney Ramey, played the lion’s share of minutes and accounted for all but two points in the Longhorn scoring efforts.

“When our defense got a little bit better in the second half, at times it enabled us to push out in transition,” Beard said. “That was one thing we were able to do, basically our offense got aggressive and I think our defense kind of fed off that.”

Texas improves to 20-8 overall and 9-6 in Big 12 play. For the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Longhorns are a 20-win program in the regular season. They also have clinched at least a .500 conference record, which should all but lock in their status as an NCAA Tournament team.

Three more regular season games remain for the Longhorns. Next up is a trip to Morgantown, W. Va. to face the West Virginia Mountaineers. Beard praised WVU head coach Bob Huggins and his team, and made sure to note that records such as WVU’s 14-14 and 3-12 effort in conference could be “misleading.”

Then comes the Erwin Center’s final men’s basketball game versus Baylor on Monday, followed by a season finale versus Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.

“You want to beat West Virginia and Baylor, then who do we got, Kansas? The Celtics in there somewhere?” Beard joked.

No matter who they face, a physical effort like the one that drew praise from Dixon and helped Texas turn a 10-point deficit into a nine-point final margin of victory will play the calendar turns to March and opponents increase in difficulty.

The next few teams will make it tough to do what the Longhorns were able to accomplish in the second half. Luckily for Texas on Wednesday night, TCU was not one of those teams.