Jan. 5, 2007

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Game #14 • Jan. 6, 2007 • TCU (9-4, 1-0) at Utah (5-9, 0-1)
8 p.m. (CT)/7 p.m. (MT) • Huntsman Center • Salt Lake City, Utah

Television: The mtn. (MountainWest Television Network)
James Bates (play-by-play) and Blaine Fowler (analyst) will describe the action.
Satellite Coordinates: SBS 6, Transponder K 9 lower - Digital
Radio: ESPN FM 103.3 and KTCU 88.7 FM in Fort Worth/Dallas
Brian Estridge (play-by-play) and John Denton (analyst) will call the game on the TCU/ISP Sports Network. The game can also be heard online at www.GoFrogs.com.

A Traveling Call
• After a season-long five-game home stand, TCU is on the road for the first time since Dec. 6, exactly one month ago.
• The trip to Utah marks just the second plane flight for the Horned Frogs, who took to the air to face St. Mary's (Calif.) prior to Thanksgiving. TCU's last two road games were bus trips to Oklahoma (Dec. 2) and UT-San Antonio (Dec. 6).
• Starting with Saturday, TCU has four of its next six games on the road.

Seven Straight Under 70
• New Mexico became the seventh straight opponent that TCU has held under 70 points.
• The Horned Frogs had not limited seven straight teams under 70 points since the 1986-87 season, when TCU held 13 consecutive opponents under that total (Jan. 7-Feb. 21, 1987).

That's 5 of 6
• TCU has won five of its last six games, with the lone loss coming to SMU (64-62) on the Mustangs' off-balance 3-point heave at the buzzer.
• It's the Frogs' hottest stretch since winning seven of eight games from Dec. 21, 2004 through Jan. 19, 2005.

Proving That It's a New Year
• TCU opened the 2007 Mountain West season in style by defeating New Mexico, 64-52, on Wednesday night in Fort Worth. The Frogs were just 2-14 in their inaugural MWC campaign.
• The Horned Frogs held the league's highest scoring offense nearly 30 points below its season average (80.6).

The Horned Frogs Against the Utes
• Utah leads the all-time series between the two programs 7 games to 2. Interestingly, it is the same record that TCU had against its last opponent, New Mexico, prior to the Horned Frogs' victory.
• TCU won the most recent contest, earning a nationally-televised 69-65 victory in Fort Worth on Mar. 1, 2006.
• That Horned Frog victory snapped a five-gave losing streak in the series and also ended TCU's nine-game MWC skid last year.
• Three of the five clashes dating back to 1997 have been decided by fewer than five points.
• TCU is 1-5 against the Utes in Salt Lake City.

In Need of One on the Road
• TCU is in search of its first conference road win since defeating Tulane (Conference USA) in New Orleans on Feb. 23, 2005.
• Since that game, TCU has lost nine straight league road games, including all eight in the MWC last season.

Opening the Lid on Conference
• The Horned Frogs are now 38-46 (.452) all time in conference openers, including 24-20 (.545) in conference openers played at home.
• Prior to defeating New Mexico on Wednesday night, TCU had lost five straight league openers dating back to 2002. TCU's previous victory to open a home slate came in 2001, when the Horned Frogs were in the Western Athletic Conference (103-64 vs. Hawaii on Jan. 4, 2001).
• The last time a TCU team won its first conference road game was in 2004, when the Frogs earned a 55-54 win at Houston on a putback at the buzzer.
• TCU has not started a league slate 2-0 since 2001, when the school was in the Western Athletic Conference. Since 1995-96, the only other Frog team to start conference play 2-0 was the 1987-88 squad.

Getting Defensive
• Over the last six outings, TCU has allowed just 53.5 points per game.
• Opponents have scored just 55.5 per game over the last eight contests.
• TCU ranks first in the league in field goal percentage defense (.401).
• The Frogs are second in the MWC in scoring defense (60.2), behind only top-20 Air Force, and rank 44th nationally in that category.
• TCU is allowing 9.7 fewer points per game this year than last year (69.9).
• In addition, teams shot 46.0 percent against the Frogs last season, nearly six percent better than this year.

It's Not the Size of the Frog in the Fight
• Despite being undersized, the Horned Frogs have more than held their own on the backboards this year, as the team has a rebounding margin of +3.4 this season.
• TCU has dominated its las two opponents on the glass, out-rebounding UT-San Antonio 49-27 and New Mexico 37-25. Those figures equate to a 34-rebound advantage (17.0 per game).
• The Horned Frogs have not finished a season with a positive rebounding margin since the 1998-99 campaign.
• The Frogs' current +3.4 advantage is the team's second-best effort since 1987-88. The only better margin (+5.6) came during the 1997-98 year.