TCU will look to build on an impressive upset of No. 10 Florida when it squares off against powerful Wisconsin on Friday in the final of the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego.
The Horned Frogs (4-2) earned a spot in the title game with a rousing 84-80 win over the defending national champion Gators, while Wisconsin (5-1) dismantled Providence 104-83 in Thursday’s other semifinal.
For TCU, Brock Harding scored 19 points on Thursday, highlighted by a jumper that gave his team the lead and five late free throws to cement the victory. He added 12 assists to record his fourth career double-double, while Jace Posey had a career-high 21 points and David Punch added 19.
The Horned Frogs rose to the challenge of battling one of the nation’s most imposing frontcourts, ending up nearly even in rebounds (31-28) — with eight of those coming on the offensive glass and scoring 44 points in the paint.
“You can see with the ups and downs we’ve had this season,” Harding said. “We knew we could compete with anybody, and I think we showed that today, and I think we showed how many pieces we have on this team. We made it known that all five guys are gonna have to rebound it. We’re gonna have to make this a rebounding team, not just a defensive team.”
The Horned Frogs’ defense forced 19 turnovers to boot.
The Badgers bounced back from a 28-point loss at then-No. 9 BYU on Nov. 21 and swamped smaller Providence. Nick Boyd scored a career-high 36 points to lead Wisconsin on Thursday, while Austin Rapp had 20 and Nolan Winter added 19 to go with 10 rebounds.
Wisconsin led throughout and was up by 19 points at the break.
“If you have a level of toughness about you, you’re going to find a way to make shots, and you’ll find a way to get stops, and you’ll find a way to clean up the defensive glass,” Badgers coach Greg Gard said about the loss to BYU.
Wisconsin responded to Gard’s challenge and then some, earning a 43-35 edge on the glass and grabbing 14 offensive rebounds on Thursday.
–Field Level Media
