TCU dominates Houston Christian 101-64 to remain undefeated

TCU beat Houston Christian on Monday /night/ at Schollmaier Arena to run its record to 6-0 and continue its early season dominance.

The Horned Frogs scored by committee with four players in double figures led by Emmanuel Miller who set a new season high with 19 points.

TCU head coach Jamie Dixon said the team had seven guys capable of putting up double digits and he expected four or five of them to step up regularly.

“It’s what we should be. I mean, I think we’re gonna have a pretty balanced scoring attack,” said Dixon, “I can see all of them being in double figures on a pretty regular basis,”

Miller was joined in double figures on Monday by Micah Peavy (15), Jameer Nelson Jr. (15) and Jakobe Coles (12).

Huskies show early fight

TCU continued to start slow, which, despite their record, has been a major issue for the Horned Frogs.

Houston Christian was shooting 50% from the field and leading the game 21-15 with 11:44 left in the first half.

But the Horned Frogs responded to the early Huskies’ lead with an absurd 36-8 run to end the first half, giving TCU a commanding 51-29 lead. TCU’s run was powered by its defense, which forced 15 turnovers in the first half and scored 26 points off those turnovers.

Senior guard Micah Peavy spoke about how the Horned Frogs settled in after a tough start.

“We take a lot of pride in our defense, we started off a little rocky, we had a bad start so coach got on us and the guys huddled up and we said we got a lock in our defense. We did that,” said Peavy.

Struggles from beyond the arc

TCU is shooting 34% from 3-point range to start the season but has struggled from behind the arc over their last two games. On Monday TCU shot 5-for-17 from 3-point range.

TCU was able to find good looks from beyond the arc throughout the game but couldn’t get many to fall. Dixon said the team didn’t have their best shooting game but excelled in the half-court.

“That [half-court offense] was, something that we really wanted to emphasize over Thanksgiving and getting better in the half-court,” said Dixon, “I thought our half-court offense was better today, we didn’t shoot it great.”

Block party

TCU ranks 13th in the nation in blocks per game (6.0) and the Huskies quickly learned why as the Horned Frogs rejected five shots in the first half. TCU finished the game with nine blocks tying their season-high.

TCU consistently altered the Huskies shot attempts at the rim, forcing them into shooting 16-for-35 on layups in the game.

TCU also pilfered the Huskies pockets throughout the game with 17 steals. Those steals led to 36 fast break points in the game.

“Get stops and then get in transition. We’re the best transition team in the country,” said Peavy.

The numbers backup Peavy’s claim with the Horned Frogs leading the nation in fastbreak points per game (29.4).

The Huskies scored on 38.5% of their possessions in the game but turned it over 30.8% of the time and after their early start showed an inability to find any consistent offense against the Horned Frogs.

TCU will play next against the Georgetown Hoyas (4-2) at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.