Playing their third game in three nights, TCU’s fairy tale run in the Big 12 Tournament ended with a thud Friday night after a 21-point loss in the Big 12 semifinals against No. 23 Iowa State, 84-63.
“We don’t want to say fatigue was a factor, but when you go out there and missing layups, most of your jump shots are missing short, not running back on defense, not as active on loose balls as we were the two previous games, it was pretty evident,” TCU guard Brandon Parrish said. “But regardless of fatigue we tried to fight in spite of the outcome, in spite of shots not going our way, I feel like we still gave it our all and just came up short.”
The game began to turn in favor of the Cyclones with 13:54 left in the first half when Iowa State went on a 10-0 run to put themselves in front of the Horned Frogs 16-10. The Cyclones had another big run to conclude the first half, finishing the first 20 minutes with a 21-9 run in the last 8:30 of action.
Iowa State bested TCU in overall field goal percentage, 56 percent to 39 percent, and in three-point field goal percentage, 46 percent to 26 percent.
“They played well and we didn’t,” TCU head coach Jamie Dixon said. “Give them credit, they’re playing at a high level and they earned it.”
Iowa State guard Deonte Burton led all players in scoring with 22 points, while Vladimir Brodziansky and Jaylen Fisher led the Horned Frogs in scoring with 10 points each.
Brodziansky was the only Horned Frog to score in double figures in all three games against Iowa State this season
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TCU has a very slim chance of making the NCAA Tournament after defeating No. 1 Kansas but will likely play in the National Invitational Tournament. The NCAA Tournament will be unveiled Sunday, March 12, at 4:30 p.m. on CBS while the NIT bracket will be revealed on Sunday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
“We’re eligible for postseason – this hasn’t been done, the NIT, since 2005,” TCU forward Kenrich Williams said. “This season we just showed resilience and we showed a lot of fight this year.”
The Frogs’ 19 wins are their most since winning 21 games in their NIT season of 2004-05 and a seven-game improvement for TCU over last season’s mere 12.
