Texas Southern takes road skid to No. 14 TCU (Dec 18, 2017)
Texas Southern has lost its first 11 games, all on the road, while No. 14 TCU enters Monday's game with the visiting Tigers on a 15-game winning streak dating to last season.
TCU is 10-0 after winning its last five games last season on the way to a postseason NIT title. The school's record winning streak is 16 games from Jan. 8 to March 5, 1998.
"It's a good thing," TCU coach Jamie Dixon said when asked about the pressure to keep the winning streak going. "You know why? Because it brings notoriety to a place that needs notoriety for their basketball program and their athletic department.
"You can say we've won in football, but they still don't get the attention they deserve. So I think it's good."
For Texas Southern to stop its losing streak and end TCU's winning ways, the Tigers must rebound from its frustrating loss Saturday at Wyoming. They blew a five-point halftime lead and became unraveled at the end with three technical fouls and two ejections in a 72-66 loss.
With a chance for Texas Southern to tie the game with 7.8 seconds left, Donte' Clark was called for a charge. Teammate Demontrae Jefferson, who scored a game-high 27 points, was called for two technical fouls and Clark one while arguing the call. Both were ejected.
Texas Southern will not get the opportunity for refs to work one of its home games until Jan. 1 when it begins Southwestern Athletic Conference play against Southern.
This year, the schedule for former Indiana coach Mike Davis' Southwestern Athletic Conference team has included Gonzaga, Kansas, Baylor, Ohio State, Syracuse and Oregon.
"I think we lose money when we play home games," Davis said. "I want our guys to get out and play on the road so we can get used to playing against real good competition. That's the only way to get better."
The Tigers are learning from their losses before conference play begins. TCU, on the other hand, is improving by taking from the experience of winning close games. Dixon points out two games specifically against SMU and Nevada.
On Dec. 5 at home, the Frogs were tied with SMU with almost 14 minutes left and won 94-83. On Dec. 8 at the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Los Angeles, they led Nevada by 16 with 9:58 and held on for an 84-80 win.
"In our minds, we should have won both those games by 20," Dixon said. "So hopefully we learn from that. You want to be the team that learns from wins, not the team that learns from losses."
TCU ranks seventh nationally averaging 19.2 assists a game and 17th with 87.3 points a game.
Senior wing player Kenrich Williams leads the Frogs with 14.2 points and 10.1 rebounds a game. Jaylen Fisher averages 6.1 assists per game and Alex Robinson is at 4.5 a game.
Texas Southern, which ranks 344th nationally allowing 86.9 points a game, is led by Jefferson's 22.8 points a game. He is a 5-foot-7, 150-pound sophomore guard.
