Men's Hoops Hosts Final Exhibition Contest Saturday Night
11/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 12, 2004
About Saturday's Contest
TCU's second and final exhibition game will be against Midwestern State, a Division II school located in Wichita Falls, Texas. Midwestern State suffered a 73-60 setback to Stephen F. Austin on Thursday night in an exhibition contest.
About the Exhibition Opener
TCU basketball fans got their first look at the 2004-05 Horned Frogs last Saturday night at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum where TCU defeated the Interhoop African All-Stars by an 80-54 count. Twelve Frogs entered the scoring column in a balanced offensive attack.
Junior transfer Nile Murry earned a starting nod for the Horned Frogs and scored TCU's first eight points of the game. In his inaugural time suiting up in purple and white, Murry went 6-for-8 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range, and netted a team-high 22 points.
TCU enjoyed a 41-23 halftime bulge thanks to 21 points from the Frog bench. After leading just 15-14 at the 11-minute mark, the Horned Frogs outscored the All-Stars 26-9 the remainder of the half.
On the evening, the Horned Frogs limited the Interhoop squad to just 31 percent shooting from the floor (17-for-54). In addition, TCU forced 28 turnovers and had 16 fast break points.
TCU played unselfishly, as 21 of the Frogs' 26 buckets were assisted. Sophomore Neil P. Dougherty led the way, dishing out a game-high nine assists. Sophomore Femi Ibikunle dragged down a team-best eight rebounds and added eight points.
Thirteen Horned Frogs saw action in the game, including all four newcomers: Murry, junior Judson Stubbs, and freshmen Neiman Owens and Brent Reese-Hackett. Only senior Corey Santee and junior Chudi Chinweze did not play due to injury.
Friday Night Lights
The TCU Horned Frogs officially open their 94th season of basketball on Friday, Nov. 19 against Texas-Arlington. Tip off is set for 7:05 p.m. at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
Many Happy Returns
TCU returns four starters from last year's team, which finished the season with a 12-17 record, including a 7-9 Conference USA mark. In addition to having four starters back from last season (only guard Nucleus Smith, who averaged 8.6 points and 3.8 rebounds, is gone due to graduation), the 11 TCU returnees played 5,038 of the team's total of 5,825 minutes last year (86.5 percent). They also accounted for 86.9 percent of the team's offense and 88.9 percent of its rebounding. The top three scorers (Corey Santee, Marcus Shropshire and Chudi Chinweze) and top two rebounders (Chinweze and Femi Ibikunle) are back in Fort Worth.
On the Docket
Here are some notes about the Frogs' schedule. * TCU's 2004-05 opponents compiled a 430-371 record in 2003-04, a .537 winning percentage.
* The Frogs will play a total of 13 games against 12 teams that played in the 2004 postseason, including 10 contests against nine NCAA Tournament teams.
* TCU will play 10 games against nine teams that ranked in the top 50 in the final 2003-04 RPI ratings and will play a total of 14 games against 13 teams that finished in the top 100.
* TCU has games against three schools rated in the top 25 in the preseason ESPN/USA Today Poll: No. 1 Kansas, No. 13 Louisville and No. 23 Memphis. In addition, seven other opponents (Cincinnati, Charlotte, UAB, Texas Tech, DePaul, Vanderbilt and Florida State) received votes in the media poll.
* TCU has games against eight schools rated in Lindy's Basketball Magazine's Preseason Top 40 poll: No. 4 Kansas, No. 20 Louisville, No. 25 UAB, No. 27 Cincinnati, No. 33 DePaul, No. 35 Memphis, No. 36 Texas Tech and No. 40 Marquette.
