“Third time is a charm” was not the case Wednesday night as TCU men’s basketball lost 73-60 to the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels.It was the third time in TCU history that the two teams faced off at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, and once again, the Rebels got the better of the Frogs, as big plays and timely shooting proved to be too much to overcome.

Despite the lopsided score, TCU was very much in the ball game. The Frogs were only down two at the half thanks to a last second tip-in by senior forward Chudi Chinweze, who finished with 9 points.

The Frogs trailed all of the second half, but continued to piece together timely runs to keep themselves in the game.

“We were hitting shots, but they kept hitting shots and were hitting them when they needed to,” senior forward Nile Murry said. “That’s just the way the game of basketball goes.”

Murry lead the Frogs with 18 points.

The Rebels were led by sophomore guard Curtis Terry- who shot 5 of 8 from the arc, accounting for all of his 15 points – and senior forward Louis Amundson, who finished with 14 points to go along with 12 rebounds and 6 blocked shots.

“Terry was the difference tonight,” head coach Neil Dougherty said. “You’re usually worried about Adams and Petrimoulx, but Terry made some timely shots.”

The Frogs fell to 1-7 in conference play and 5-17 overall.

Dougherty said the team, despite its struggles, is continuing to show improvement.

“We’ve settled into who we are,” Dougherty said. “The kids are now seeing bigger opportunities to score, and we’re playing a lot more in synch.”

The Frogs shot 41.1 percent Wednesday night, slightly higher than their season average of 35.6 percent.

The Frogs next game is at Wyoming on Feb. 8 at 8 p.m.