Men's Basketball: TCU Loses To Nevada in The Diamond Head Classic Semifinals
TCU suffered a loss against Nevada in the semifinals of the Diamond Head Classic for their second loss of the season. The Wolf Pack offense was the story of the game shooting 52% from the field and hitting eight three-pointers to the Frogs three. Nevada guard Jarod Lucas led all scorers with 25, while Emanuel Miller poured in 24 for TCU.
TCU's Emanuel Miller led the Frogs with 24 points in the semifinal of the Diamond Head Classic. The Frogs fell 88-75 to Nevada.
Things got chippy early in the game as TCU head coach Jamie Dixon was ejected for arguing referee calls, so associate head coach Tony Benford served in his place for the remainder of the game. Regardless, the Horned Frogs need to execute better in the half-court and be more consistent shooting the ball if they want to beat good teams. They now fall to 0-2 in Quad 1 games and still haven't recorded a Quad 1 or Quad 2 win yet this season. Jamie Dixon's schedule has started to become an issue looking at their resume heading into January. TCU will have to bounce back in the third-place game on Sunday.
Top Performers:
Emanuel Miller: 24 points, 8 rebounds, 5-9 FG
Micah Peavy: 11 points, 2 rebounds, 4-6 FG
Avery Anderson III: 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists
Three Point Woes
The three-point shot, although slightly improved from last year, remains a struggle for this TCU team. Against Nevada, it was the story of the game as the Frogs shot 3-14 to Nevada's 8-17. As JaKobe Coles has started to decline in production, they have struggled to find consistent shooting this season outside of Trevian Tennyson. Being able to execute in the half-court better will be monumental for creating more open shots that can get them going. Coles and Jameer Nelson Jr. combined for just eight points on 3-18 shooting. Those two players need to play better if the Frogs want to execute in the half-court and hit more of these threes.
No Help For Miller
Miller was the only consistent scoring TCU saw this game, scoring 24 points on an efficient 5-9 from the field. The next highest scorer for the Frogs had just 11, from both Peavy and Anderson III. This has been a trend for TCU this year, as Miller has been the only consistent production on an every-game basis especially in the half-court. If the Frogs want to be competitive in the Big 12, other players need to step up to give Miller support and give opponents another threat to game plan for.
Losing The Turnover Battle
So much of what the Frogs try to do is force turnovers and get out in transition fast for easy buckets. Against Nevada, they lost the turnover battle 8-11 and only had eight points of turnovers to Nevada's 21. This forced TCU to be limited to the half-court where they severely struggled. Winning the turnover battle and capitalizing on that will be massive for the Frogs to be comfortable in the style they want to play at because their half-court offense is not working at all right now.
Up Next: TCU will play the loser of Georgia Tech/Hawaii in the third-place game of the Diamond Head Classic at 5:30 CST on Sunday, Christmas Eve. This is the last big opportunity for the Horned Frogs in the non-conference, so it will be a huge game for their resume. Buckle Up.
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