These guys again: TCU

By Staff     Feb 20, 2015

Kansas guards Devonte Graham (4) and Wayne Selden Jr. watch a pair of free throws from teammate Frank Mason with seconds remaining on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas.

The last time Bill Self’s Kansas basketball team faced TCU, [the Jayhawks had to win ugly][1], 64-61, in Fort Worth, Texas, a few weeks back.

The Allen Fieldhouse atmosphere on Saturday afternoon figures to make the rematch with the Horned Frogs (16-10 overall, 3-10 Big 12) a little easier for No. 8-ranked KU (21-5, 10-3), but TCU has been up to its muddying, defensive ways this past week, with home victories over Oklahoma State and Kansas State — both held to 55 points.

The Horned Frogs kept the Wildcats without a field goal in the final 9:42 of the first half Wednesday night, limiting K-State to 15 first-half points. A few days earlier, the Cowboys only connected on 3 of 16 3-pointers.

TCU’s offense has come around in its back-to-back wins, as well. The Horned Frogs shot 52.7% combined against OSU and K-State — pretty good for a team shooting 39.3% in Big 12 play.

All season, the Frogs have taken advantage of the offensive glass. TCU averages 13.3 offensive rebounds a game in the Big 12 (third, behind West Virginia and Baylor), and has racked up more offensive boards than its opponent in each of its last eight games: vs. Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa State, Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State and K-State.

Kansas forward Perry Ellis (34) fouls TCU Horned Frogs guard Kyan Anderson (5) on a drive around the perimeter during the first half at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas.

You might recall the Frogs gathered a season-high 26 offensive rebounds against Kansas.

Statistically, TCU has more success in these scenarios:

– The Frogs are 9-1 when scoring 70 or more points

– The Frogs are 14-2 when out-rebounding their opponent

– The Frogs have shot a better percentage from the field than their opponent in all 16 victories

Kansas guard Frank Mason III (0) gets to the bucket against TCU Horned Frogs forward Kenrich Williams (34) during the second half at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Now, as a refresher, here are the TCU players the Jayhawks have to worry about as they try to get one win closer to an 11th straight Big 12 championship.

HORNED FROGS STARTERS
———————

**No. 5 — Kyan Anderson, 5-11, senior G**

> — Jan. 28 at TCU: 17 points, 5/18 FGs,
> 2/6 3s, 5/7 FTs, 5 rebounds, 2
> assists, 5 TOs, 3 steals in 37 minutes

The No. 6 all-time scorer in program history (1,519 points) and all-time steal leader (166) leads the Big 12 in minutes played (35.38) this season, and averages 12.5 points, 4.0 assists and 1.54 steals in league games.

Kansas forward Hunter Mickelson (42) turns for a shot over TCU Horned Frogs forward Chris Washburn during the first half at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Often, Anderson makes it his personal mission to get TCU easy points at the free-throw line, where he has hit 50 of 60 tries in conference play.

But he doesn’t forget about his teammates. The point guard has 5 or more assists in 5 of his last 6 games. In his four years, TCU is 22-17 when he dishes 5 or more.

Anderson also leads TCU in 3-pointers made in Big 12 games (16) but has struggled to make them consistently (27.6%).

*– [hoop-math.com][2] update: While the rest of Anderson’s teammates don’t shoot the ball from deep too often, he more than makes up for it, taking 49% of his shots from 3-point range. 69.2% of his 3-point makes have been assisted.*

**No. 32 — Trey Zeigler, 6-5, senior G**

Kansas guard Frank Mason III (0) has a shot blocker by TCU Horned Frogs center Karviar Shepherd (14) during the first half at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas.

> — Jan. 28 at TCU: 12 points, 5/15 FGs,
> 2/4 FTs, 11 rebounds (5 offensive), 1
> assist, 1 TO, 1 steal in 35 minutes

Eight times this season in Big 12 games, including against KU, the athletic guard has scored in double figures. He averages 9.8 points in conference while shooting 44.4% from the field.

Not a guard who spends a lot of time on the perimeter, Zeigler has missed each of his 5 3-point attempts in league games. But he does have 21 offensive rebounds in conference.

He put up a season-high 19 points at K-State back in early January. But in his past four games, three have resulted in single-digit scoring. He did go for 13 points while making all 5 shot attempts last weekend vs. OSU.

*– hoop-math.com update: Zeigler, obviously not much of a shooter, takes 55.9% of his shots at the rim, which is second on TCU. He has made 60.6% of his 104 attempts.*

Kansas guard Frank Mason III (0) defends as TCU Horned Frogs forward Amric Fields (4) looks for an outlet pas to TCU guard Trey Zeigler during the second half at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas. At right is Kansas guard Brannen Greene (14).

**No. 34 — Kenrich Williams, 6-7, sophomore F**

> — Jan. 28 at TCU: 13 points, 5/14 FGs,
> 0/1 3s, 3/6 FTs, 9 rebounds (7
> offensive), 1 assist, 0 TOs, 2 steals
> in 25 minutes

Just to reiterate: He had SEVEN offensive rebounds vs. KU a few weeks ago. Don’t think for a second the Jayhawks haven’t heard that number constantly at practices this week.

Williams has 39 offensive rebounds in Big 12 games, which leads the Frogs, and he averages a team-best 6.6 boards in conference.

Offensively since the start of 2015, he averages 8.4 points, making 41.8% from the floor.

Kansas guard Wayne Selden celebrates after forcing a five-second call against TCU forward Brandon Parrish during the second half on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Williams’ scoring is on an uptick, with double-digit performances in 6 of his last 9 games.

He’s a guy coach Trent Johnson likes to have on the floor almost as much as Anderson.

*– hoop-math.com update: Here’s another Horned Frog who knows where he needs to be shooting. Williams takes 56.6% of his shots at the rim and makes 61.7% at that distance.*

**No. 33 — Chris Washburn, 6-8, sophomore F**

> — Jan. 28 at TCU: 7 points, 3/10 FGs,
> 1/4 FTs, 12 rebounds (5 offensive), 3
> assists, 0 TOs, 2 blocks, 3 steals in
> 28 minutes

Making just 36.7% of his shots in league games, while averaging 6.0 points and 5.6 rebounds, Washburn turned in one of his better performances of the year in helping TCU beat K-State.

The big man put up a career-high 17 points, went 9-for-13 at the free-throw line and had a team-leading 8 rebounds.

Washburn has 24 offensive rebounds in conference play, but had just 1 in each of his last 2 games.

The 5 offensive boards he corralled against KU are his season-high.

*– hoop-math.com update: While Washburn has taken 80 shots at the rim this season, making 60% of those, he has only connected on 20 of his 71 2-point jumpers (28.2%). … His 24 put-backs on the offensive glass lead TCU.*

**No. 14 — Karviar Shepherd, 6-10, sophomore C**

> — Jan. 28 at TCU: 8 points, 3/5 FGs,
> 2/5 FTs, 4 rebounds, 5 fouls, 2 TOs, 1
> block in 37 minutes

Projected as a skilled big man out of high school, when Kansas rerouted him, Shepherd has been far from great offensively this season.

In Big 12 action, the center has hit only 33 of 75 shots, averages 5.8 points and 5.2 rebounds, and has been atrocious at the foul line (9-for-25).

Shepherd, who has 22 boards on the offensive end since the start of league play, has experienced a little more success of late, though. He shot 5-for-8 against both OSU and K-State as he put up double figures in back-to-back games for the first time this season, as TCU won consecutive games for the first time since the Big 12 schedule began.

*– hoop-math.com update: The majority of his shots — 65.1% — have come on 2-point jumpers, and Shepherd has made only 37 of 99 (37.4%). He is taking an even higher rate of his shots in this range since the last time playing KU, but is making them at nearly the exact same clip.*

HORNED FROGS BENCH
——————

**No. 4 — Amric Fields, 6-9, senior F**

> — Jan. 28 at TCU: 1 point, 0/2 FGs,
> 1/2 FTs, 1 rebound, 1 assist in 12
> minutes

An athletic, long sub, he is shooting a team-best 49.3% from the floor in the Big 12, while averaging 6.9 points and 3.5 rebounds.

But Fields is another Frog who has looked atrocious at the charity stripe (13-for-35) in conference play.

Like Shepherd, he is coming off back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts: 12 vs. OSU and 10 vs. K-State.

Fields even hit 2 of 3 from 3-point land against the Wildcats, a surprising number, considering he has only made 9 of 26 from deep all season long.

*– hoop-math.com update: Fields is actually the team’s most effective shooter. His eFG% of 57.2% leads the team.*

**No. 11 — Brandon Parrish, 6-6, sophomore F**

> — Jan. 28 at TCU: 2 points, 1/3 FGs,
> 0/1 3s, 1 rebound, 2 TOs in 16 minutes

In limited minutes, Parrish averages just 4.6 points in the conference, but is the team’s second-best 3-point threat — not that that’s saying much — with 9 makes on 28 attempts (32.1%) in Big 12 games.

Three weeks ago, he made 3 of 5 from behind the arc at Iowa State and scored 11 points — his first double-digit outing since the Big 12 opener.

*– hoop-math.com update: Parrish has taken 32% of his shots at the rim and 40.6% from 3-point range. He has made 23 of 41 inside (56.1%).*

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2015/jan/28/worrisome-win-jayhawks-late-mistakes-nearly-cost-t/
[2]: http://hoop-math.com/TCU2015.php

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