How Texas swept TCU in the regular season

The No. 22 Texas Longhorns (21-10, 10-8 Big 12) will face the TCU Horned Frogs (19-11, 8-10 Big 12) in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. Chris Beard’s team swept the Frogs in the 2021-22 regular season, with a 73-50 win in Fort Worth in front of the largest-ever crowd for TCU basketball.

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TCU was in good position to exact revenge in the Erwin Center on February 24, starting the game shooting 65 percent from the floor and 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. The Longhorn defense clamped down in the second half, erasing a 10-point TCU lead to prevail 75-66 despite making one three-pointer for the entire game.

Beating the same team three times in one year is no easy task. Since the 2011-12 season, Texas accomplished the feat versus TCU in 2011-12, West Virginia in 2013-14, and Iowa State in 2017-18.

Both teams are NCAA Tournament locks, according to On3’s Eric Prisbell. With that in mind, only a place in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals is truly at stake on Thursday. In order to defeat Jamie Dixons’ team for a third time, Texas will seek to replicate a few things from their previous victories like…

Texas 73 TCU 50 – January 26

Texas saw its fair share of hostile environments in Beard’s first season, and the effort his team gave in Fort Worth in late January was the best performance in those opportunities. The Longhorns had every starter but Tre Mitchell reach double-figures, with Timmy Allen leading all scorers with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting.

Texas had one of its best shooting nights of the year, hitting 29-of-65 shots, their fourth-most makes in a game in 2021-2022. They also were 8-of-18 from three, their their fourth-best percentage from deep all year and second-best in a conference game.

In addition to outshooting the Horned Frogs, who posted a sub-par 36/13/57 (FG/3PT/FT) night percentage-wise, Texas soundly outrebounded TCU in Schollmaier Arena. The Longhorns pulled down 41 boards, with four players grabbing seven or more. Texas also had the advantage on the offensive glass, 15-to-9.

Beard’s team didn’t draw many fouls, only visiting the free throw line 12 times. But the defensive effort that limited TCU to 50 shots and a paltry 0.81 points per possession were more than enough to at one point lead by 24 and finish the contest up 23.

Texas 75 TCU 66 – February 24

In the second matchup in Austin, TCU made up for many of the shots they missed in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs were scorching from the field in the first half, and not for lack of effort from the Longhorn defense.

Texas was decent shooting inside the arc in the first 20 minutes, but failed in both the first and second halves from three. What they lacked in three point shooting in the first half (1-for-6), they made up at the line (7-for-11) to only trail by five at halftime.

Despite cooling off from the field, the Horned Frogs built a 10-point lead in the second half when Mike Miles hit a layup to put TCU up 48-38 with 13:20 remaining. Beard called a 30-second timeout, and from there his team played a physical brand of basketball.

Texas went to the line 29 times, forcing the issue with the Horned Frogs. Over that final 13:20, Texas was an impressive 14-of-15 from the free throw line, with several of those makes of the and-one variety. They didn’t just play physical on the offensive end, they did the same on defense.

Christian Bishop recorded three blocks while Marcus Carr added one of his own. TCU also turned the ball over 10 times in the second half, which Texas turned into 18 points. Overall, they bullied the Horned Frogs to the tune of a 45-31 drubbing in the second half.

Beard’s bunch used two different styles to top TCU with decent ease during the regular season. Repeating either will be tough, especially with TCU motivated to improve their standing with the NCAA Tournament selection committee. But there’s a successful blueprint, two to be exact, for the Longhorns to follow at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday.