Horned Frogs Host Grambling Tuesday Night
12/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2004
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Setting the Scene
The TCU Horned Frogs (8-4) return from the Christmas holiday riding a two-game winning streak heading into the game against Grambling State (3-3). TCU has won three of its last four games, holding opponents to 55 or fewer points in each of those victories. The Horned Frogs are 6-1 at home and have not yielded 70 points to an opponent at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum this season. TCU has eight victories already this season after not reaching that win total until February each of the past two years. The Frogs are 5-0 all time against Grambling State and 12-1 against schools from the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Series History
TCU leads the all-time series with Grambling State by a 5-0 count and has won both meetings between the schools since head coach Neil Dougherty took over the program prior to the 2002-03 campaign. Last year, the Frogs picked up a 99-71 win over the Tigers behind Marcus Shropshire's 26 points. In 2002, TCU recorded a 103-84 victory, which is the most points scored by the Horned Frogs under Dougherty. TCU has topped the 100-point plateau in three of the last four meetings between the two teams, winning by an average score of 116-90. The 143 points in a 143-110 win over Grambling on Dec. 30, 1999, are the second-most ever scored by a Frog team.
Last Season's Meeting
The TCU Horned Frogs (4-6) opened the scoring with a jumper eight seconds into the game and never looked back in handling the Grambling State Tigers (2-8) by a final of 99-71 at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The 99 points scored were the most by the Horned Frogs in the 2003-04 season. Marcus Shropshire and Chudi Chinweze earned their first starts of the season for TCU, and the duo accounted for the Horned Frogs' first seven points of the game and combined for 22 first-half points. TCU made eight of its first nine shots to bolt out to a 19-5 lead in the first six-plus minutes of the contest. The Frogs continued their blistering shooting pace, making 18 of 24 shots in the stanza, good for 75 percent. In addition, TCU owned a 22-14 advantage on the boards en route to a 52-29 halftime lead. In the second half, a 12-0 run by the Tigers in just 1:23 cut a 59-36 contest into an 11-point game, 59-48, with 17:03 remaining, but two consecutive Shropshire three-pointers helped TCU pad its cushion once again. The native of Grand Prairie, Texas, hit his first five three-point attempts and eight of his first nine shots from the field. Shropshire, who totaled 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting, became the first TCU player this season to reach the 20-point mark and snapped a 10-game streak that dated back to last season. It was the Horned Frogs' longest drought without a 20-point scorer since a 13-game stretch in the 1987-88 campaign. In addition, Shropshire's 26 points were the most by a TCU player since Chinweze poured in 28 on Feb. 18, 2003, against UAB. Shropshire was joined in double figures by three other Frogs, as Chinweze posted 17 points, freshman Blake Adams landed a career-high 16 and Corey Santee added 11. Santee was one assist shy of his fourth career double-double. TCU's 52 first-half points were the most scored by the Horned Frogs in any half this season. TCU shot 61.8 percent from the field, the best under second-year head coach Neil Dougherty.
Back With the SWAC
This is TCU's second straight game against a school from the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Last Wednesday, the Horned Frogs squared off with Arkansas-Pine Bluff and came away with a 76-55 victory. TCU is 12-1 all time against schools from the SWAC, with the lone loss coming to Texas Southern by a 103-78 count on Dec. 28, 1988.
Enjoying the Holidays
Prior to defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday, Dec. 22, TCU had lost its final game prior to the Christmas holiday in each of the previous five seasons. This is the first time that TCU went into the break with a victory since the 1999-00 season. Last year the team came out of the Christmas holiday with a 3-6 record.
League Season Looming
After tonight's game, the Horned Frogs have just one nonconference contest remaining on the 2004-05 schedule (Monday, Jan. 3 vs. Texas State). Following that home game, the Frogs will open Conference USA competition on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 18th-ranked Louisville, the preseason favorite to win the 14-team league. TCU was picked to finish ninth in the standings, with all eight teams listed above the Frogs having played in the 2004 postseason. Below is a look at the preseason coaches poll along with their records as of Dec. 23.
Eight Isn't Enough, But It's a Great Start
TCU already has eight victories on the season prior to entering the first of the year. In each of the past two seasons, the Horned Frogs have not earned their eighth win of the campaign until the month of February (Feb. 3, 2004 and Feb. 12, 2003).
Forcing the Issue
The Horned Frogs have forced a total of 54 turnovers over the past two games. Maryland-Eastern Shore was pressured into 29 miscues last Tuesday, which was the most by a Horned Frog opponent since Fresno State committed 30 on Feb. 15, 2001. For the season, TCU owns a turnover margin of +3.1.
You Gotta Know When to Hold `Em
TCU is holding opponents to 68.2 points per game, which is the lowest figure since the 1991-92 squad limited teams to 66.3 points per contest. In addition, the Horned Frogs are forcing opponents into just 42.4 percent shooting, which is the lowest figure allowed since the 1989-90 team (42.2 percent).
Fiddy-Five
TCU has held three of its last four opponents to 55 points or less, which is the first time that a Horned Frog team has accomplished that feat since the 1991-92 season, when the Frogs held four of five teams under the mark from Jan. 25 to Feb. 8. The combined 108 points allowed over the last two games are the fewest in back-to-back contests since the 1993-94 season (Princeton-48 and Louisiana Tech-53).
We the Three Kings
Over the past eight games, the Horned Frogs are 74-for-183 (.404) from three-point range. Included in that total are three games with 11 treys (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Florida State and Maryland-Eastern Shore). In their first four games of the season, the Frogs went 24-for-82 (.293) from beyond the arc.
Balanced Attack
In TCU's first 12 games of the season, the Horned Frogs have been led in scoring by five different players: Corey Santee (5 times), Marcus Shropshire (2 times), Nile Murry (2 times), Judson Stubbs (2 times) and Chudi Chinweze (1 time). TCU had just four players lead the team in scoring in the squad's 29 games all of last season: Shropshire (12 times), Santee (11 times), Chinweze (5 times) and Nucleus Smith (3 times).
In the Driver's Seat
In six of TCU's eight victories, the Frogs have taken control prior to intermission. The Horned Frogs led the final 34:01 in their victory over Texas-Arlington, the last 31:24 in their win over Shawnee State, the final 21:07 of their triumph over Texas Tech, the remaining 39:49 against SMU, the final 38:49 against Maryland-Eastern Shore and the last 39:35 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Against Eastern Shore and Pine Bluff, the Frogs maintained a double-digit advantage for the final 36 minutes of each contest. TCU erased halftime deficits of one and four points respectively in victories over North Texas and Florida State.
Here Comes Santee Claus
TCU senior point guard Corey Santee is moving up the career leaders list in two major categories. Santee currently ranks eighth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,498 points and second on the assists list with 497. Next on the scoring chart is Lee Nailon (1,503) and Santee trails only Prince Fowler (514) in assists. Santee is on pace to close his career as the third-highest scoring player in TCU history and to finish as the school's top assist man. In addition to his rankings in school history, he will finish his career among the top 10 in Conference USA history in both categories.
