TCU
TCU continues winning NIT ways by crushing Nebraska. ‘It’s a special time of year’
The TCU men’s basketball team is one win away from returning to New York City for the second time in three years for the NIT semifinals and finals.
The Frogs are focused on proving the NCAA Tournament selection committee wrong for the “snub,” and made another strong statement Sunday night.
TCU pulled away for a dominant 88-72 victory over Nebraska at Schollmaier Arena. The Frogs (22-13) will host Creighton at 8 p.m. Tuesday with a trip to Madison Square Garden on the line.
“It’s super exciting,” said TCU junior guard Desmond Bane, who was part of the 2017 NIT championship team. “It brings back memories, how much we’ve grown, our program. It’s a special time of year.
“I still have my ring [from the 2017 title] in my locker as extra motivation. That was the most fun I’ve had.”
The Frogs are the second Big 12 team to reach the final eight of the NIT, joining Texas. The 88 points are the most TCU has scored since a 92-83 victory at Iowa State on Feb. 9.
Bane is a significant reason why. He scored a game-high 30 points, making six 3-pointers. It’s the second 30-point game for Bane, along with his career night of 34 points at Texas in the regular-season finale.
Senior JD Miller scored 15 points, and Kouat Noi and Kendric Davis each scored 12 points. Kevin Samuel finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
Nebraska (19-17) star James Palmer Jr. led the team with 19 points, all in the second half. Palmer went 0-for-10 from the field in the first half.
The turning point happened midway through the second half. TCU led 57-49 at the time, but Nebraska had just forced a turnover.
TCU’s Davis lost the ball and Nebraska’s Isaiah Roby won the hustle for the loose ball. But Davis, all 5-foot-11, 180 pounds of him, tried to deflect Roby’s pass and ended up on top of him briefly.
Roby, the 6-foot-8, 230-pound junior, tossed Davis off. Davis took a hard fall on the court, and the officials ejected and charged a Flagrant 2 foul to Roby.
“I was trying to get a jump ball,” Davis said. “He reacted I guess. No hard feelings, just move on.”
Davis made both free throws off the flagrant foul, and then knocked down a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession as TCU kept control of the game with a 62-49 lead with 11:33 left.
“That pretty much shifted the momentum our way,” Davis said of the sequence.
Nebraska pulled within single digits after that, but never truly threatened.
TCU played well offensively. Davis found Samuel for an alley-oop dunk with 8:56 left, Noi made timely shots after a forgettable start and Bane was a scoring threat from start to finish.
In the first half, TCU jumped out to an early 12-6 lead, but Nebraska responded with an 8-0 run to take a brief 14-12 lead with 12:35 left.
But the Frogs regained the lead less than a minute later, and then went on their own 8-0 run, highlighted by consecutive 3-pointers by Bane and Davis.
TCU stayed in front and closed the first half on a high, courtesy of Noi. Noi, who started the game 0-for-6 from the field, made a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left. Nebraska made a quick layup, but then Noi had a circus layup off a Miller air ball at the buzzer.
That gave TCU a 40-32 lead going into halftime.
Bane led TCU with 10 first-half points, giving him his fifth straight game with double-digits.
Palmer Jr., who entered averaging 25.5 points a game in his last six, was shut out in the opening half while making two turnovers.
For TCU, the focus shifts to Creighton and a return trip to New York.
“Our preparation has been really good,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “As I told our guys, only 20 some odd teams playing now. That’s what you come to do, come to Big 12 to be a part of that.
“We can say we should’ve been in the [NCAA] Tournament, but it’s better to do something about it. And that’s what we plan to do.”