On Saturday, the 25th-ranked TCU men’s basketball team takes on the Texas Longhorns as both teams try to improve their chances of a Big 12 title.
TCU has won three in a row, including two over ranked opponents, while Texas has struggled to a 14-7 record and is far from a lock to make the NCAA Tournament. Still, the Longhorns have enough talent to challenge TCU, especially with 6-foot-9 forward Dylan Disu’s ability to help stretch the floor.
“[They’re] Athletic,” TCU head coach Jamie Dixon told the media on Thursday. “Disu is a challenge. Their two guards are explosive – [Tyrese] Hunter and [Max] Abmas, so we’ve got to contain them.”
After starring at Oral Roberts, Abmas, a Dallas Jesuit alum, transferred to Texas in the offseason. This season, he is averaging 17.7 points per game and shooting nearly 40% from three-point range, While Hunter bypassed the NBA to return to Austin and can score in bunches.
Opposing shooting percentages are exactly what Dixon wants to see decrease, and it would help if TCU can continue to be consistent offensively and crash the glass.
“We’ve got to get better,” he explained. “We’re winning games with offense. We’ve got to outrebound people and continue with low turnovers, but we’ve got to get a lower percentage defensively, and I know we’re, we’re forcing a few more turnovers and outrebounding people.
“That makes up for it in some ways, but we’ve got to get a lower percentage from that team that we’re going against. Granted, we just played against two of the best offensive teams in the country in [Texas] Tech. … They’ve been shooting it well, but too many breakdowns to give them too many threes.”
Texas Tech shot 51.9% from the floor and 50% from three-point range on Tuesday night, but the Horned Frogs came away with a win. Still, opponents are shooting an overall 48% from the field. While Dixon admits it has improved, it still is not at the level he wants.
“We did force the 13 turnovers, we outrebounded, and that’s part of defense as well,” he analyzed. “I’d like more layups to be taken away. That was our emphasis in the last couple of games, and we haven’t gotten it done. Ball screen coverage has just got to get better.”
TCU has begun tracking its best defender each game, and a couple of players have consistently stood out this season.
“We call it faults, and we’ve got a limit of faults, and that’s how we hold our guys accountable. We chart everything. We’ve got percentages, and we recognize the best defender.”
Yet, even the most consistent players for TCU struggled against Texas Tech.
“It wasn’t any of the guys that were usually good for us,” Dixon said. “A lot of mistakes from Trey [Tennyson] and Micah [Peavy], who are usually our best defenders, [and] our best low-fault guys. Sometimes, there’s some breakdowns, but there were too many last game, and they made us pay for each and every mistake.”
TCU will hope its top defenders return to their more consistent ways as it attempts to put another dagger into Texas’s postseason hopes.
