Frogs hit 100 vs Tennessee Tech
TCU sophomore guard Desmond Bane hit not one, not two, not three, not four, but five first-half three-pointers as the Frogs cruised past Tennessee Tech.
Bane finished with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting (six-of-10 from three) to pace TCU as it won 100-63 against the Golden Eagles.
"We made some shots early. The other night we didn't make shots early and that kind of affected us, which is an aboration," TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. "We made some shots and got our defense going and got to play a lot of guys in different spots."
Bane hasn't had a shooting night like this since he was in high school.
"It's a credit to my teammates. They found me open and I just knocked them down," Bane said. "We've had some great games in Australia, but this is probably the best game I've had since I've been here."
His hot half gave TCU a 52-24 lead at the break and sealed the Frogs' second victory of the season. The whole team shot better than in the opener as it finished hitting 62.5 percent of shots, 35-of-56.
"Desmond has been doing this. He was four-of-five the other day, he just didn't get a lot of shots," Dixon said. "The offense is really good we think and we space the floor. Defenses will get bigger and stronger going forward, but we've got to be a team that if the shots aren't going we have to be good on defense."
With the massive first half lead, the only real drama in the waining minutes surrounded whether TCU would set a new school record in three-pointers or hit 100 for the first time since Nov. 24, 2014. The team came up one three-ball shy of tying the school record of 17, set in 2008, but a freshman put TCU in triple digits.
RJ Nembhard scored his first collegiate points on a putback slam to get TCU to 99. He had missed his first
"I don't think we were pressing at all," Miller said. "If we hadn't gotten 100, we wouldn't have, but we got it."
While the offense was improved, Dixon was more impressed with the defense early in the game.
"The main thing we emphasized was getting ball pressure and getting tipped balls and we did that," Dixon said. "We still had some break downs and there were two three-pointers in the first half that we just can't let happen."
Miller finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Alex Robinson had nine points and nine assists. Kouat Noi added 10 points and Vladimir Brodziansky had 11 with three blocks and assists.
TCU (2-0) hosts South Dakota (2-0) at 8 p.m. Wednesday.