Noah Reynolds scored 17 points, Trazarien White added 16 and TCU survived a scare with a 76-71 victory over Texas State on Tuesday night in Fort Worth.
The Frogs (3-0) overcame a night in which they missed more than half of their free throws (15 of 32). Along with Reynolds and White, TCU’s Frankie Collins (13 points) and Brendan Wenzel (12) ended in double figures.
Texas State’s Tylan Pope led the Bobcats with 17 points. Dylan Dawson added 15, while Joshua O’Garro had 14.
The Frogs entered as 15 1/2-point favorites and it looked like they would cruise early on, making their first seven shots from the field. The seventh shot was a 3-pointer by Wenzel that gave TCU a 16-6 lead with 15:39 left in the opening half.
Texas State (2-1) responded by scoring 20 of the next 29 points, grabbing a 26-25 lead on a 3-pointer by Drue Drinnon with 5:57 left in the opening half. The Bobcats led by as many as six in the opening half and took a 37-35 lead into the locker rooms.
In the second half, TCU rallied. The Frogs went on a 9-0 run early in the half, building a 44-39 lead on a layup by Collins with just under 17 minutes left. Leading 55-52 with 10 minutes left, TCU had another 9-0 run. Wenzel capped the run by knocking down a 3 with 7:38 left to give the Frogs a 64-52 lead.
The Bobcats didn’t go away quietly. They made it a one-possession game late on a 3-pointer by Dawson with three seconds left. That’s as close as the upset bid came, though, as TCU improved to 4-0 in the series history.
Tuesday was the first game between these programs since 2009. The Frogs improved to 54-6 in November since the 2014-15 season.
TCU travels to Michigan on Friday. Texas State is at Abilene Christian on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
