TCU and Kansas both knocked off Big 12 Conference rivals over the weekend and will look to carry that momentum into Wednesday night’s meeting in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Horned Frogs (10-7, 3-3 Big 12) responded to a midweek loss against Utah by pulling off a dramatic 74-71 comeback victory over then-No. 25 Baylor on Sunday in Waco, Texas. It was TCU’s first Quad 1 victory of the season and it will have a chance to add a second against the 12th-ranked Jayhawks (13-4, 4-2).
“I’m proud of our guys, we were healthy today,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “We had two good practices and we got it done on the glass. That was our mission and we got that done.”
TCU dominated Baylor on the boards, 41-25. As Dixon said, that has become a focus for a Frogs team that ranks 14th in the Big 12 in combined team rebounds (35.0).
Frogs center Ernest Udeh Jr. had his best game on the boards against the Bears, pulling down a season-high 15 rebounds. Udeh, who started his college career at Kansas, had 12 rebounds combined in his previous three games.
On the scoring front, Udeh had 16 points for the Frogs in the win. Brendan Wenzel had a game-high 17 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer. Wenzel said after the game that he is finally feeling more like himself after battling an ankle injury.
“I’m definitely starting to feel like myself again,” he said. “Night in and night out, I have to come in and do what I do. It doesn’t matter how many games or practices I miss, I have to come in and do my job. My job is to shoot the ball.”
TCU’s victory over Baylor marked just the 39th win in program history over an AP Top 25 opponent, with 24 of those wins coming under Dixon.
For Kansas, the news continues to center on how it can string together victories without forward KJ Adams (shoulder). Adams sustained the injury in the Jayhawks’ loss at Iowa State last week, although the team responded with an 84-74 victory over Kansas State on Saturday.
Freshman Flory Bidunga replaced Adams in the starting lineup, while AJ Storr also saw his minutes increase. Bidunga finished with six points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes, while Storr had seven points in 17 minutes.
KU coach Bill Self said “there really wasn’t a decision” as far as whether to start Bidunga or Storr in Adams’ place.
“If you look statistically, our best team analytically … regardless of who is in the game, our best combination is Flory and Hunter (Dickinson) when you talk about points per possession offensively and points given up defensively,” Self said.
Dickinson was the go-to player against the Wildcats, finishing with 25 points and eight rebounds. It was his fifth 20-point game of the season.
Kansas owns a lopsided 26-4 lead in the all-time series against TCU and has won four of the past five meetings.
–Field Level Media
