Frogs use hot shooting in second half to down Cowboys

TCU used a torrid offensive pace in the second half, coupled with a scrappy defensive effort to knock off Oklahoma State 63-56 at Schollmaier Arena.

The Frogs shot 65 percent in the second half and forced 22 turnovers in the win.

“I think Vlad (Brodziansky) was 0-for-something in the first half, but he was getting good looks,” head coach Trent Johnson said in regard to the Frogs second half approach. “We made a conscience decision to limit what we were running to get  in a better rhythm, so we didn’t run as many sets.”

Johnson said in the first half his group was running six different sets, which they trimmed down to two in the second half.

“While it takes Chauncey (Collins) out of the game running the point, we wanted to get Vlad and Malique (Trent) going and it worked,” Johnson said.

Trent was one of four Frogs to score in double-figures in the win.

TCU got off to another slow start as they shot only 26 percent in the first half. That included ten straight misses mid-way through the opening stanza, which helped the Cowboys build a six-point halftime lead.

“We were lacking confidence from the perimeter,” Johnson said of the slow start. “You also have to give Oklahoma State credit for that with their quickness to the ball.”

The Frogs left their offensive woes behind in the second half, as they made eight of their first ten shots to open the frame. It was capped by a thunderous dunk by Chris Washburn to give the Frogs a 38-34 lead.

“Chris’ dunk added energy that we needed,” sophomore Chauncey Collins said.

Brandon Parrish led the way offensively for the Frogs with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting. His jump shot with 48 seconds left helped seal the Frog win.

TCU collected 22 points off Cowboy turnovers in the contest and only allowed 11 points off their own turnovers.

“We knew that since we were shooting poorly in the first half we had to play good defense,” Collins said.

Parrish said the Frogs put an emphasis on the defensive side of the ball after their lackluster performance against Kansas.

“The offense will come eventually, we knew that if we could lock down defensively we would be in the game with a chance to win in the last five minutes,” Parrish said. “It was one of our better defensive games of the season.”

Johnson said he wants to see his group’s aggressiveness continue against tenth ranked West Virginia on Saturday.

“We need to be aggressive and shoot the ball with confidence,” Johnson said. “Because they are playing really well right now.”

Tip off in Morgantown against West Virginia is set for 11 A.M. and will be televised on ESPNU. Brian Estridge and John Denton will man the radio duties on the TCU IMG Sports Network.


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