Frogs Square-Off Versus UNLV in Mountain West Conference Showdown
1/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2010
Game 20 - TCU (10-9 | 2-2) vs. UNLV (15-4 | 3-2)
Fort Worth, Texas • Daniel-Meyer Coliseum
Saturday (January 23) • 5:05 p.m. Central Time
Radio - ESPN Radio 103.3 FM | Brian Estridge (pxp) and John Denton (analyst)
TV - CBS College Sports | Tom Hart (pxp) and Steve Lappas (analyst)
Game Notes - UNLV in PDF Format 
New York State of Mind
• Keion Mitchem is the only four-year player on the Frogs' roster this season. A signee under former TCU head men's basketball coach Neil Dougherty, Mitchem has appeared in team-high 94 games, including a career-high 31 games last season. During his career, the TCU guard has started in 26 career games, including seven games this season.
• Mitchem is set to graduate from TCU in May 2010 with a degree in communications. When the Rochester, N.Y., native walks across the stage to receive his diploma, he will become the first member of his family to graduate from college.
• The TCU senior needs 16 points to reach the 500-point milestone for his career. Mitchem has posted three double-digit scoring performances this season, including a season-high 14 points on the road at Utah. All three double-digit scoring games have come on the road (12 vs. Cal State Northridge in Tempe, Ariz. | 12 at San Diego State).
Tale of Two Halves
• Since Jim Christian took over the reigns of the TCU men's basketball program, the Frogs have posted an 19-3 overall record when holding the lead heading into intermission. Last season, the Frogs were 10-1 when holding the halftime advantage, and currently TCU is 9-2 during the 2009-10 campaign when leading at halftime.
Six Shooters
• The Frogs will return six lettermen from a season, which ties for sixth in the Mountain West Conference. The Air Force Academy returns a conference-high 12 lettermen followed by Colorado State (10), BYU (9), San Diego State (7), Utah (7), TCU (6), New Mexico (6), UNLV (6) and Wyoming (5).
Double Trouble
• Zvonko Buljan has recorded 15 double-doubles for his career, which is tops among all returning players in the Mountain West Conference. In addition, the TCU forward has collected eight double-doubles in Mountain West Conference action, which are two more than BYU's Jonathan Tavernari, who has recorded six during his conference career.
New Faces; New Team; Same Main Ingredient
• A key ingredient that Christian looks for when building his roster is finding and signing players from winning high school and junior college programs. This past signing class was no exception for Christian as all six players were part of teams that recorded at least 19 victories a season ago. During the 2008-09 campaign, the six newcomers to the TCU men's basketball program helped their programs to a 140-53 combined record (.725 winning percentage).
TCU vs. UNLV History
• This will be the 15th meeting between TCU and UNLV with the Runnin' Rebels holding a 12-2 advantage in the all-time series record. The Frogs won the last meeting, 80-73, between the two programs at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, which snapped a seven-game losing skid to UNLV.
A Look Back at UT Pan American
• In their 70-58 victory over UT Pan American, the Frogs had two players post double-doubles in the same game (Moss and Buljan), which marked the second time this season that TCU has achieved this feat. The Frogs had two double-doubles in their triple overtime victory against Texas State in Moss and Butler.
• The Frogs out-rebounded the Broncs by a 37-26 margin (+11), which was their second- highest rebounding margin in a game this season. The highest mark for the Frogs was +14 (45-31) in the season opener against Mid-America Christian.
International Flavor
• The Frogs have five international players on the roster this season in Zvonko Buljan (Croatia), Edvinas Ruzgas (Lithuania), Marin Bavcevic (Croatia), Cheick Kone (Africa) and Nikola Cerina (Serbia). This is the most international players that TCU has ever had on its roster at one time. In each of the last six seasons, the Frogs have had at least two international players on the roster.
• The Frogs are currently tied for third among all NCAA Division I programs in most international players on their roster with five. TCU is tied with Gonzaga, Hawai'i, Valparaiso, Stetson and St Mary's (Calif.) while New Mexico State and Northeastern both lead the country with six international players on its rosters.
• Buljan and Bavcevic are both from Split, Croatia, and were members of the same junior team their prep careers. Bavcevic's father, Niksa, is the head coach of TROGIR ZP basketball team in Croatia's A1 League.
• Cheick Kone is only the second player from the continent of Africa to join the TCU men's basketball team. The first player from Africa to play for the Frogs was Femi Ibikunle (2004-07), who was a native of Lagos, Nigeria.
• Even though the Frogs have five international players on the roster, four of them attended school in the United States before joining the TCU men's basketball team. Buljan went to junior college at Vincennes University in Indiana while Kone attended Howard College in Texas. Ruzgas went to high school in Virginia before playing junior college ball down the road from TCU in Weatherford. Bavcevic went to high school in North Carolina before attending TCU.
• The Frogs have the most international players on their roster among all Mountain West Conference programs. Wyoming has four international players followed by UNLV (2), Utah (2), BYU (2) while Colorado State and San Diego State each have one. In all, there are 17 international players in the Mountain West Conference.
I've Seen You Before
• The Frogs have two sets of teammates that have played together before joining the TCU men's basketball team. Ronnie Moss and Greg Hill both attended Bridgton Academy in Maine where they guided their prep school team to the Northeastern Prep School Championship during the 2006-07 campaign. Buljan and Bavcevic were both teammates during junior league in Croatia.
Good Things Come in Three's
• The Frogs have made at least one three-pointer in 359 consecutive games dating back to the 1997-98 campaign. The last time that TCU failed to connect on a three-pointer came against LIU-Brooklyn on November 22, 1997.
• The Frogs have connected on at least one three-pointer in 576 of their last 577 games. Prior to a failed connection against LIU-Brooklyn, TCU made at least one three-pointer in 217 consecutive games dating back to the 1989-90 season when the University of Texas held the Frogs without a three-pointer on February 11, 1990.
On A Trey
• This season, the Frogs are ranked 52nd in the country in three-pointers per game (7.5 3FGM-G) and third in the Mountain West Conference. The Frogs are also ranked first in the Mountain West Conference in three-point field goal attempts per game, averaging 23.0 three-pointers per evening.
• The Frogs have attempted at least 30 three-pointers on three occasions this season (St. Gregory's | Mid-America Christian | Colgate). In addition, the Frogs have the highest single-game mark in the Mountain West Conference this season with 33 three-point field goal attempts against St. Gregory's. The Frogs have connected on at least seven three-pointers in 11 of 19 games.
See You in the 2010-11 Season
• The Frogs will have two new additions for the 2010-11 campaign in transfer Hank Thorns and early signee Amric Fields.
• Thorns will sit out the 2009-10 campaign due to NCAA Transfer Rules after coming to the Frogs' program from Virginia Tech. A two-year lettermen for the Hokies, Thorns dished out a Virginia Tech freshman record 113 assists during the 2007-08 season, which was a mark previously held by Bimbo Coles. During his rookie season, the 5-9 point guard ranked sixth in the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio and 10th in assists per game then guided the Hokies to an appearance in the semifinals of the 2009 NIT.
• A product of Putnam City West High School, Fields ranks as one of the best interior players in the State of Oklahoma after averaging 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocked shots per game during his junior campaign. The 6-9 center was selected as the Metro Atlantic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and secured all-conference accolades last season. The newly-inked TCU Frog also garnered All-District 8 recognition last season.
He's Seen it Hall
• TCU Director of Sports Medicine Chris Hall has spent 27 seasons on the bench for the Frogs, including 25 seasons as their full-time athletic trainer and two seasons as a student trainer. During his time, the Frogs have posted a 452-388 overall record.
Extra Frames
• The Frogs have posted an all-time record of 44-59 (.427) in overtime games and 33-27 (.550) in overtime games at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. TCU is a combined 4-0 in games that last past two overtimes in its history.
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