The TCU Horned Frogs lost forward Amric Fields to a knee injury in a 61-64 loss to the SMU Mustangs.
This was also TCU’s first loss of the season. The Frogs dropped to 2-1.
On the first play of the game, Fields made a cut and fell down, lying on the court for several minutes before trainers came to assist him off. He did not return to the game and TCU head coach Trent Johnson said he thinks the injury is serious.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and one of the things about Amric is he’s not one to just lay on the floor,” Johnson said. “Without hearing the doctor’s report, I gotta believe he’s done.”
SMU head coach Larry Brown had some words of consolation after the game.
“It made me sick to my stomach seeing that. Great player like that,” Brown said. “I don’t think the outcome would’ve been quite the same if he had played.”
In the loss, forward Garlon Green had 20 points and nine rebounds while senior guard Nate Bunder Lind had 10 points, filling in for the injured Fields. Kyan Anderson also contributed with five points and eight assists.
The Horned Frogs never led in the loss to SMU. The Mustangs came out early with an 11-4 run that included a 3-pointer made by guard Jalen Jones. Jones led the team in scoring (21), rebounding (8), and blocks (3) for the game.
“We turned the ball over too much and it hurt us in the long run,” Green said. “We didn’t get enough 50/50 balls.”
The Mustangs outrebounded the Frogs 32-28.
In the first half, Bunder Lind cut a four-point lead down to one with a 3-pointer with 4:16 left. SMU then responded with two threes of their own by Brian Bernardi and Jalen Jones in the following minutes to get the lead back up to seven.
TCU went into the half down 33-26 and made a few runs to try and lower the deficit but could never quite catch up. Every time TCU seemed to get within a few points, the Mustangs responded with a run of their own.
Down by nine with 5:52 left in the second half, TCU put up a big 8-2 run that put the game at 54-51. SMU guard Ryan Manuel then hit a jump shot at the 1:54 mark and Bunder Lind missed two free throws on the subsequent possession to potentially put the game within a point.
TCU was 8-of-16 from the free throw line for the game compared SMU’s 18-of-27.
After two more missed free throws and only 16.9 seconds left in the game, Kyan Anderson made two big free throws to put the game within four points.
SMU forward Nick Russell responded going 1-for-2 on his next couple of free throw attempts. TCU guard Jarvis Ray tipped in the ball on an missed shot to cut the lead to three with 6.2 seconds left.
The Frogs had to foul and sent Manuel to the line. Manuel missed his two attempts but had the second rebounded by Jalen Jones. TCU then intentionally fouled Jones to preserve the clock, who also missed his two attempts with the second being rebounded by Green.
Anderson had a chance to tie the game up but had his 3-point attempt blocked to preserve the 64-61 win for the Mustangs.
TCU will face Prairie View A&M next on Sunday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The game is set to tip-off at 3 p.m.
