No. 12 Texas remains undefeated in Big 12, after pulling out a 77-69 win Wednesday night over TCU.
“When you play Texas you can’t give them second chance opportunities and you can’t let them get into transitions,” said TCU head coach Raegan Pebley.
TCU (10-10, 2-7) last beat Texas in 2014-2015 – Pebley’s first game coaching the Frogs against Longhorns. Since then Texas (15-4, 9-0) has won five straight games.
Pebley described Wednesday’s game as “a battle.”
“Both teams struggled in the first half finding a rhythm from foul trouble and benching some youth,” she said.
TCU was never down more than two possessions: 18-24 in the first period; 16-13 in the second; 17-19 in the third period; 18-21 in the third period, and ended with a final score of 69-77.
“Tonight’s game was tough… TCU challenged our discipline,” said UT head coach Karon Aston.
The score was tied 3 times. The largest lead was 9 by Texas in the fourth period for 00:42 seconds, and TCU by 3 in the 1st period for 8:10.
“TCU is playing for things just like we are,” Aston said. “We won against a team that’s playing good basketball. They’re confident.”
When asked what it is about playing TCU, Texas player, Ariel Atkins said, “they’re confident and have a game plan and stick to it. They’re a good basketball team and play very well at home.”
Pebley said her players were strong on defense.
“There’s things I’m really proud of for our team… our half-court defense did a really good job,” coach Pebley said. “We have the expectation going into these games that we’re not in to fight hard, we’re in to win games.”
TCU plays Iowa Saturday in Ames. The Frogs return home Wednesday, Feb. 3 to face Texas Tech at 7 p.m.