Garlon Green knew what it felt like to beat a ranked team before TCU pulled off the upset over No. 5 Kansas.
The senior forward scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds in last season’s 102-97 overtime defeat of No. 11 UNLV. The win came almost exactly a year before Wednesday’s upset.
“This one was bigger,” Green said, comparing the win over Kansas to the upset over UNLV.
Green had a game-high 20 points against Kansas.
He also helped beat the 18th-ranked New Mexico Lobos 83-64 three games after UNLV.
Both of those wins came at home, just like Kansas.
But after both victories, the Frogs suffered road losses.
The TCU team that silenced the Jayhawks is not the same as last year’s squad. The Frogs have a new conference, new coach and are missing the leading scorers from the two victories (guards Hank Thorns and J.R. Cadot).
And this time the next game is at home.
West Virginia (11-11 overall, 4-5 Big 12) will come to Fort Worth looking to extend its conference-winning streak to three games. The Mountaineers snuck out a 60-58 win over Texas to move into seventh place in the conference.
The Frogs fell 71-50 on Jan. 23 to the Mountaineers in a game where Johnson said the Frogs were beaten “like a drum.”
Since the beat down in Morgantown, W.Va., the Frogs have pulled off arguably the biggest upset of the season. But they still sit alone at the bottom of the conference.
That could change if TCU beats West Virginia Saturday. A victory would pull the Frogs even with Texas or Texas Tech at 2-8, assuming either the Longhorns or Red Raiders lose Saturday.
“Every day is another day to improve,” Green said. “We got the win, but now it’s a new day. We got to [go] against West Virginia and prove.”
Then again if history is any indicator, TCU will go right back into the loss column Saturday, right back to being alone at the bottom of the barrel.
But maybe being on the same court where less than 72 hours ago the No. 5 team in the country suffered a loss will make a difference. Or maybe having a senior who has been through a similar situation before will change the outcome.
“We just have to keep moving and keep going,” Green said. “We have to embrace this and just keep the ride going.”