TCU Horned Frogs falter late in upset loss at home to the UCF Knights

With a chance to improve its seeding in the Big 12 Tournament, TCU faltered late in a disappointing 79-77 defeat to UCF on Saturday in the regular-season finale at Schollmaier Arena.

March is the time you want to see a team playing its best, but now the Horned Frogs will be limping into the Big 12 Tournament having lost four of its last six games.

“We’re certainly disappointed. You can’t get outrebounded; you can’t give up 50 percent from the field,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “They made their free throws, we didn’t at a high enough rate. You add those things up and we just didn’t get it done.”

It was a closely contested game with neither team leading by more than two possessions. With just 1 minute, 5 seconds remaining in the game the two teams were tied at 74-74.

TCU had a chance to take the lead, but JaKobe Coles’ entry pass to Emanuel Miller was too high and led to a turnover with less than 40 seconds remaining. A questionable call went against the Horned Frogs as UCF guard Darius Johnson drew a foul on Micah Peavy despite taking an out-of-control shot.

Johnson knocked down both free throws to make it 76-74 with less than 30 seconds remaining. TCU had one more chance and ran a great pick-and-pop play with Coles and Jameer Nelson. However, after Nelson hit Coles for an open 3-pointer, his shot was well short of the rim.

Johnson hit two more free throws to make it a two-possession game with 15 seconds remaining. But TCU’s Miller came up with a huge three-point play on a rebounded a miss for a putback and drew Johnson’s fifth foul with 4.1 seconds remaining.

TCU, though, wasn’t able to get the steal on the inbounds and had to send Antwann Jones to the free-throw line with 3.3 seconds remaining. Jones only made one. So TCU had one final shot to win it at the buzzer, but Miller’s last-second attempt hit the top of the backboard.

The fact that TCU was even in that position where it needed a last second heave to tie or win the game was the Horned Frogs’ own fault. UCF shot 80 percent from the free throw line and missed just five free throws while TCU only shot 65 percent and missed 11 of their 32 attempts.

The Knights entered the day only shooting 41 percent from the field, 310th nationally. They shot 49.1 against TCU and the 79 points were the most UCF has scored in a Big 12 game this season.

“We’ve got to become the team that those things don’t happen to,” Dixon said. “We haven’t become it, and that’s on me. I thought we had two good days, a walk-through and shoot-around today. We were trying to take that next step defensively because we didn’t defend well enough at West Virginia. ... We just didn’t do it.”

The Horned Frogs entered the day with a chance to move up to the No. 5 seed, but now TCU will be the No. 8 seed and face No. 9 Oklahoma at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Kansas City.

Can’t contain Johnson

UCF guard Darius Johnson has been a bright spot on the Knights and showed why he may be one of the most underrated guards in the Big 12 with his performance against the Horned Frogs on Saturday.

Johnson was dialed in early with 13 points in the first half. UCF surprised TCU with its 3-point shooting early in the game, and Johnson was a big reason why as he made three of his first four 3s in the half.

In the second half, TCU turned to Micah Peavy to check Johnson, and when Peavy was on him, he did a good job as usual. The problem was when Johnson would create a mismatch or get in transition as when he had Essam Mostafa on a switch and hit a stepback 3-pointer that cut TCU’s lead to 58-57 with less than 10 minutes to play.

Then after TCU built the lead up to five with less than six minutes to go, Johnson got in the lane and made a tough floater that cut TCU’s lead to 64-61.

As the game wore on, even Peavy had difficulties staying in front of him, and Johnson kept drawing foul after foul. Johnson finished with a game-high 33 points and was a perfect 10 of 10 from the free-throw line. It was arguably his best game of the year, and he was clearly the catalyst in the Knights’ victory.

“He got a lot of shots at the free-throw line and setting up his teammates,” Miller said. “He did a good job of executing and getting down in the middle of the defense. He made a lot of good reads tonight, whether it was hitting the roller or going to the rim himself. He’s a good player.”

Udeh’s return

After missing essentially the last six games, TCU got a boost with the return of starting center Ernest Udeh. Udeh returned to the lineup for the first time since sufferring an injury in the first half against Kansas State on Feb. 17. TCU’s defense had sufferred without the presence of the athletic 6-foot-10 big man, and Udeh was needed against a Central Florida frontcourt that featured plenty of size.

Udeh’s impact was subtle, but crucial as he did the dirty work as TCU’s offense had trouble with the Knights’ defense. In the first half Udeh hit five free throws and constantly drew fouls with his energy, such as on one possession where the Knights fouled Udeh twice while he was crashing the offensive glass. Udeh continued making an impact in the second half with his relentless energy and length despite a few questionable foul calls going against him.

Udeh finished with six points and nine rebounds. If it wasn’t for him, TCU would’ve had a larger deficit in rebounding (34-32).

“The rehab process was good, most importantly it felt real good to get out there with my teammates,” Udeh said. “Just being a part of every game I can, no matter what I’m going through. It was a good feeling tonight.”

Clutch Chuck comes through early

When TCU’s offense needed a spark in the first half, Chuck O’Bannon delivered. O’Bannon came into the game when TCU trailed 23-18, and the Horned Frogs hadn’t scored a point in nearly three minutes. The experienced veteran corrected that quickly as he knocked down a free throw and then a 3-pointer that cut UCF’s advantage to 25-22.

O’Bannon knocked down another 3-pointer with 4:18 remaining in the first half that trimmed TCU’s deficit to 30-29. Then on the next possession, O’Bannon leaked out after the Horned Frogs secured a rebound and rose up for a slam dunk over UCF guard Jaylin Sellers to give TCU a 31-30 lead with 3:48 remaining in the half. It was the first lead for TCU since the 12:20 mark.

O’Bannon finished with a team-high nine points in the first half and was a big reason TCU was able to manage a 36-36 tie after a sluggish first half against the Knights.