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Frogs suffer first setback of season to Texas Tech, 71-58
Nov. 28, 2007 LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- For the first 25 minutes of action, the TCU men's basketball program had Bobby Knight and his Texas Tech Red Raiders right where they wanted them - deflated and behind on the scoreboard. For the final 15 minutes of action, the tables were completely turned in favor of Texas Tech as the Red Raiders couldn't miss a shot while the Horned Frogs' strong shooting touch quietly went south. Texas Tech started slow, but finished strong as the Red Raiders out-scored the Frogs by a 36-10 advantage over the final 15 minutes of the game en route to securing a 71-58 victory at the United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas, on Wednesday evening. The Frogs dropped their first game of the season as the record stands at 4-1 for the Purple and White while the Red Raiders improved to 5-2 on the 2007-08 campaign. In the first half of action, the Frogs stuck to a familiar game-plan that helped them capture their first four games as the Purple and White pushed the ball offensively while playing an aggressive defense. During the first 20 minutes of action, there were seven tied scores and six lead changes with the Frogs getting the advantage on the scoreboard at 27-25 following a dunk by junior John Ortiz (Cali, Colombia/Colby C.C.) at the 4:47 mark. The Purple and White capped off a strong ending to the first half as TCU notched a 12-5 run over the final 5:35 to take a 35-29 advantage heading into intermission. Jason Ebie (Houston, Texas/Alief Elsik H.S.) and Ryan Wall (Coppell, Texas/Coppell H.S.) each connected on a three-pointer during that scoring stretch to give the Frogs the late half lead.
The Frogs notched a shooting percentage of 50.0 percent (14-of-28), including 4-of-7 from behind the three-point line, while the Red Raiders shot 31.0 percent (9-of-29) in the first half of action.
The Frogs continued to connect on shots from the outside in the second half as the Purple and White stretched their lead to 13 points at 48-35 at the 15:55 mark following a lay-in by junior Kevin Langford (Fort Worth, Texas/North Crowley H.S.). However - that's where the good fortunate of shooting ended for the Frogs as the Red Raiders were able to slowly cut the scoring deficit and take a late advantage for their second victory of the season at the United Spirit Arena. In the second half of action, the Red Raiders connected on 63.2 percent (12-of-19), including 76.1 percent (16-of-21) from the charity stripe. On the other side of the court, the Frogs connected on 25.0 percent (8-of-25) field goal attempts and 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from behind the three-point line. The Red Raiders held a big advantage over the Frogs at the charity stripe where the home squad connected on 24-of-32 attempts compared to 7-of-14 shots for the Purple and White. The Frogs were called 26 fouls in the game compared to 14 for the Red Raiders. Martin Zeno finished with a double-double for the Red Raiders as the TTU senior finished with a game-high 26 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Alan Voskuil connected on 16 points while Charlie Burgess finished with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists to aid the Red Raiders' scoring attack. Langford finished with a team-high 14 points to go along with eight rebounds in 30 minutes of action while Ortiz collected on a career-high 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting for the Frogs. Ebie posted a solid performance in a relief role as the TCU sophomore finished with five points, four assists and four steals for the Frogs. The Frogs will be back in action the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum on Sunday (Dec. 2) when the Purple and White welcomes the University of Oklahoma to the Fort Worth area for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. TCU Athletic Media Relations
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