On Wednesday evening in Ft. Worth, Texas, two Big 12 teams clashed in a tight, back-and-forth contest.
Jamie Dixon and the TCU Horned Frogs welcomed Darian DeVries and the West Virginia Mountaineers to Schollmaier Arena for the 11th game of the Big 12 regular season. Both teams entered the game after winning in their previous outing and were looking to extend their streak to two. That was the case for TCU, who outlasted West Virginia to advance to 5-6 in league play.
With that, here are the top three takeaways from TCU’s 65-60 win over the Mountaineers.
Two Man Crew
While oftentimes in college basketball, teams need production from a multitude of players to win a game, that was not the case for the TCU Horned Frogs on Wednesday. The bulk of their production came from the two-man crew of Noah Reynolds and Vasean Allette.
The duo combined for 42 of TCU’s 65 points and were the only scorers on the team to reach double figures. Allette headlined with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists, while Reynolds stepped more into the scoring role with 22 points and two rebounds. The next highest scorer for TCU’s group was Micah Robinson with seven.
Uh Oh
Is it time for West Virginia fans to start panicking?
Maybe. Then again, maybe not. It’s really tough to say where West Virginia is headed at the moment because the team has looked drastically different just about every time they’ve taken the court lately. The group continues to get All-American level production from Javon Small, but as seen in the last few weeks, teams are allocating more resources to stopping him and forcing others to score.
That theory has worked out a lot for West Virginia’s opponents, as the crew dropped their fourth loss in the last five games. They currently sit as a 9-seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update but will have to start winning to remain there.
Approaching Bubble?
Speaking of bracketology, the last four in category should consist of multiple Big 12 teams in the next few weeks. Units like Arizona State, UCF, Cincinnati, and BYU have all checked in on the bubble this week, but with scores changing every day, it feels like the Big 12 has found the next crew of bubble teams.
With their win over West Virginia, TCU is inching closer and closer to that territory, and unfortunately, with the loss, West Virginia is, too. Kansas State is another team to watch in the event that they continue their hot streak, but for fans of the Big 12, the race for the field of 68 is going to be incredible!
