TCU
1-0
Jackson State
0-1
Frogs Drop Tigers in Season Opener, 86-62
11/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 12, 2010
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FORT WORTH—TCU won its fifth straight season opener Friday during an 86-62 victory over Jackson State at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Junior guard Ronnie Moss led the Horned Frogs with 20 points, while freshman forward Amrick Fields totaled 18 in his TCU debut, the most for a TCU freshman since 1993-94.
The Frogs improved to 1-0 for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons. Of the 13 players who saw action for TCU, eight had never previously played in a regular-season game for the Frogs.
Moss, who has made the move from the point over to shooting guard with the arrival of junior Hank Thorns, had a solid season debut, reaching the 20-point mark for the 11th time in his career. He went 7-of-12 from the field, including a 4-of-6 effort from 3-point range. Overall, TCU went 11-of-20 from outside the arc, good for the ninth-best long-distance shooting performance (55.0 percent) in school history.
TCU's outside shooting was only part of the story of the team's strong opening performance. Overall, the squad shot 57.4 percent from the floor and dished out 24 assists. The Frogs also forced Jackson State into 18 turnovers, which they turned into a 29-3 margin in points off miscues.
Fields led TCU's cast of newcomers with a phenomenal freshman debut. He went 7-of-10 from the field in only 24 minutes of action to help account for his 18 points. The total marked the most for a Frog freshman in an opener since Jeff Jacobs scored 19 against Drexel on Dec. 3, 1993.
Touted newcomer Thorns showed no affects of his year absence from the game after sitting out last season as a transfer from Virginia Tech. He accounted for nine points, four rebounds and a career-best 10 assists. Other players making noise in their TCU debuts included junior guards Sammy Yeager, who scored eight points, and J.R. Cadot, who totaled six. Forward Greg Hill, one of only two seniors on this year's Horned Frog squad, scored nine points, as did sophomore forward Garlon Green.
Jackson State had three players score in double figures. Tyrone Hanson and Jenirro Bush tied for the team lead with 14 points each, while De'Suan Dixon recorded 11. Hanson and Dixon both had game highs of eight boards.
The Frogs rode Moss' back to a 10-point lead in the game's opening three minutes, as the Frog junior scored 10 consecutive points after the Tigers made the first basket of the game. Moss hit a pair of 3-pointers, a jumper and dunk off a nice feed from Thorns. Thorns made it a 12-0 TCU run with a layup at the 16:36 mark to force a JSU timeout.
The Tigers were able to cut their deficit to only four points with just over six minutes remaining in the first half, but TCU responded with back-to-back treys by Green and Hill. Hill later added a trio of free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt to push the Frog lead to 13 points at 28-15 with 4:21 left in the opening stanza.
The Frogs pushed their advantage to 17 points at the half following a dunk by a wide-open Green off a nice dish from Thorns just prior to intermission.
The lead reached 20 points in the opening minute of the second half on a free throw by Cerina, and TCU led by as many as 34 points after opening the period 7-of-8 from the field.
The Frogs return to their home court Tuesday, when they take on cross-town rival SMU in the annual State Farm DFW Duel. Tip-off from the DMC is scheduled for 7 p.m.
