Frogs lack punch, but not effort in loss to Texas Tech
By Danny Gillham
Sports Editor

By Danny Gillham
Sports Editor

The first sellout crowd for a men’s basketball game at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum in two seasons saw two teams give an equally hard effort Tuesday, but one that executed like it needed to win.

The Frogs (2-2) went toe-to-toe with Bob Knight’s Red Raiders (4-0), but Texas Tech’s frontline and hot shooting gave them the edge it need to eventually pull away for an 84-66 victory.

Head coach Neil Dougherty said despite the 18-point loss, he felt his team had many positives in the game.

“They tried to take a plan and execute it tonight, and they didn’t give up until about two minutes after the horn sounded,” Dougherty said. “If I can get that from this group even when we are undersized, outmanned — all those different things — I’m going to enjoy coaching those basketball (games).”

The loud and large crowd of purple quickly fell silent as the Red Raiders jumped out at the start of the game to a 10-0 lead. Two free-throws by junior guard Nucleus Smith stopped the bleeding, and the Frogs battled back to make it as close as 25-23 with 6:41 left in the first half.

However the Red Raiders stretched the lead to eight heading into halftime, and after the 18-minute mark in the second half, the closest the Frogs could come was seven. Four straight field goals by Nick Valdez put the Frogs down by 17 with 4:33 left and put the nail in TCU’s coffin.

The star of the game was Texas Tech guard Andre Emmett. The junior from Dallas shot 67 percent in the first half, good enough for 17 points. He finished the game 13-for-18 from the field and scored a game-high 27 points.

In contrast was the Frogs shooting. TCU shot nearly 44 percent from the field, but was a woeful 1-for-17 from the three-point line.

“We can’t live by the jumpshot,” sophomore guard Corey Santee said. “We’ve got to keep trying to pound the ball inside. We are trying establish a game inside, because that is where the game is going to be won — in the paint.”

The most cold Frog was its leading scorer, senior guard Junior Blount.

Blount was the focus of Tech defenders, and finished the night with eight points. He was 3-of-12 from the field, and did not hit any of his seven attempts from beyond the arc.

Santee was quick to back up the team’s co-captain after a performance that is less than up to Blount’s standards.

“It just wasn’t falling, it’s just want of them nights,” he said. “It could be my night next game. We still got confidence in Junior, Junior is our leader.”

Santee led the Frogs with 17 and freshman Chudi Chinweze and Smith were the only other Frogs in double figures, with 13 and 11 respectively.

Robert Tomaszek and Valdez were also in double digits for Texas Tech with 17 and 14.

Dougherty said the Frogs have a lot of work to do to compete with the likes of Texas Tech, but is pleased with the progression.

“If we can continue to give effort and compete, we can work with that,” Dougherty said. “That is the part that made me pretty satisfied. Now we were not good enough to get the job done, and that is the part we need to understand — that there it is work to be done.

“So it is possible to be satisfied to a degree and yet understand we came up short.”

Danny Gillham