Good teams with talent rarely drop back-toback losses, and TCU is no different.
TCU (3-1) kept ULM’s (2-2) offense silent in
every meaningful way as the Horned Frogs eyed
the 100-mark in the 95-60 win over the Warhawks.
TCU already dropped an uncharacteristic loss
to another small Louisiana school—Northwestern State—earlier in the week, so ULM entered
Thursday’s matchup with the expectation that its
opponent wouldn’t be out of rhythm twice in the
same week.
But even with those expectations and mental
preparations, TCU blasted ULM out of the gate
with a 12-2 run.
ULM coach Keith Richard said one of the biggest factors in his team’s loss was TCU’s ability
to hit 3-pointers. TCU hit 50% of their shots from
beyond the arc after a miserable 2-for-21 effort in
the previous game.
“We saw the real 15th-ranked team in the country in the first half,” Richard said. “We told the
team that they would come out really locked in
because of the loss the other night.”
Meanwhile, ULM’s attempts to find the bottom
of the net were often fruitless. The Warhawks’
30% shooting night doomed them against a
Horned Frogs team who had 53 points in the first
half. ULM, on the other hand, only connected on
10 shots in the first 20 minutes of action. Many of
ULM’s missed shots were a result of the smothering TCU defense.
Richard said TCU’s length and effort to close
out on shots led to many contested and blocked
shots.
TCU’s offensive tempo slowed down in the
second half. The Warhawks were outscored by
eight in the second, but given their mishaps to
start the game, it still led to a 35-point margin of
defeat at the final buzzer.
TCU produced four double-digit scorers while
Tyreke Lacoure’s 14 points set him alone as the
only Warhawk to finish in that category. Even
then, five of his points came at the foul line and
he shot 4-for-13 overall.