TCU
1-0
Angelo State
0-0
Frogs open season with 89-70 triumph over Angelo State
11/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 10, 2007
The TCU men's basketball team was paced by a trio of players in double figures as the Horned Frogs recorded a hard-earned 89-70 victory over Angelo State on Saturday (Nov. 10) at the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
With the victory, the Frogs improved to 5-1 in season openers under head men's basketball coach Neil Dougherty and notched their most points in a season opener since the 2004-05 season when the Purple and White collected 90 points against The University of Texas-Arlington.
The Frogs had early troubles with the Rams in the beginning of the game as Angelo State came out and controlled the scoreboard for the majority of the first half. After a three-pointer by ASU guard Brice Nengsu, the Rams controlled the lead at 3-0 and held advantages of eight points on a quartet of occasions in the opening frame.
A lay-in by Quinn Barfield gave the Rams a 10-2 lead, but the Frogs scored eight of the next 10 points in the game to close the deficit to two points at 12-10 when Kevin Langford (Fort Worth, Texas/North Crowley H.S.) connected on a jumper in the paint at the 15:04 mark.
After a 7-1 run where the Rams took a 19-11 advantage, the Frogs came roaring back to tie the game at 19-19 with 10:31 remaining in the first half following the first of two three-pointers by TCU guard Keion Mitchem (Rochester, N.Y./East Rochester H.S.).
The Frogs were able to attain their first scoring advantage of the first half following a pair of free throws by Jason Ebie (Houston, Texas/Alief Elsik H.S.) to make the game 35-34 in favor of the home squad with 2:29 remaining in the opening frame.
The Purple and White had a strong final five minutes of the first half as the Frogs out-scored the Rams by a 10-3 advantage en route to taking a 38-35 count into the locker rooms.
In the second half, the Frogs controlled the pace and in turn controlled the scoreboard against a very athletic and aggressive Angelo State squad. The Frogs opened up a 15-point advantage following a three-pointer by senior Brent Hackett (Fort Worth, Texas/Southwest H.S.) to make the score 58-43 with 14:46 remaining in the contest.
Hackett finished with a game-high 19 points as he connected on 6-of-15 field goal attempts, including four three-pointers, to go along with three assists in 28 minutes of action.
One of the main reasons why the Frogs were able to control the scoreboard in the second half came in the form of senior forward Alvardo Parker (South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands/Frank Phillips J.C.), who scored 10 of his 18 points in the final 20 minutes of the game. The TCU senior finished the game with 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals in 28 minutes of court action.
The Rams were able to close within seven points at 60-53 with 11:32 remaining on the clock after a lay-in and free throw by senior center Marcus Hubbard, who led Angelo State with 17 points in 22 minutes of action.
After the flurry by the Rams, the Frogs continued to work an inside-outside game as they quickly built the lead back to double-digits notched a 17-point advantage at 81-64 with 2:51 left in the game following a lay-in by junior Henry Salter (Gulfport, Miss./Mississippi Gulf Coast College). Salter had a big debut for the Frogs as he collected 13 points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes of action.
With the lead safely in check, the Frogs were able to come away with the 89-70 victory over Angelo State and begin the season with a 1-0 record for the 26th time in the last 27 opening contests.
The Frogs connected on 45.2 percent (33-of-73) of their field goal attempts while controlling the boards by a 52-34 advantage. The Frogs held advantages over the Rams in assists (21-12), blocked shots (7-5) and steals (11-5).
The Frogs will be back in action on Tuesday (Nov. 13) against Rice at the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum with tip-off slated for 7:00 p.m.
Quotes from TCU head men's basketball coach Neil Dougherty:
Overall view of the game
"We got off to a slow start, and I felt like we tried to make up a bad first seven or eight minutes by winning the next minute by 30 points, and it just doesn't happen like that. You got to settle down and play, and once we realized that I felt we played very well in the last 25 to 30 minutes of the game. We have a much more mature team, a deeper team and depth coming off of the bench so there were a lot of players who contributed tonight."
On the pace of the game
"This is how I've always wanted to play, but we've never had the opportunity to play this way. We've never had depth, we've never had the health, and this is the first time we've had our whole team practicing together without injuries since Kansas three years ago. Now, we have everyone, and we can play the style of game we want to play."
On Alvardo Parker
"I've always said that A.P. can collected a double-double every time that he steps onto the court, and he almost had it tonight. He played extremely well and really controlled the boards. We got a lot of minutes out of him tonight, and he did everything for us. He was able to score, grab rebounds, block shots and force them to change their offensive game plan."
On preparing for the Rice game
"This time of the year, it's a little different because we're still working on getting ourselves better. We'll watch some film on this game tomorrow then put this game to bed and starting working on us. Up until Christmas, we will be working on doing the things that TCU needs to do in order to get better. We'll look at the Rice tapes and try to make some adjustments, but our biggest focus are the guys wearing the TCU uniforms."
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