TCU at Oregon St. CBI Game Thread

TCU (18-14, 7-7) vs. Oregon St. (20-14, 7-11) at Gill Coliseum in the Quarterfinal Round of the CBI Tournament at 7 PM PDT / HD Net / KEJO 1240 AM / KPAM 860 AM (Streamed)

The Beavers host the Horned Frogs from the Mt. West Conference tonight in the CBI Tournament Quarterfinals.

The winner will play the winner of the Wyoming-Washington St. game tonight in Pullman on Wednesday. The site and time will be determined after tonight's winners are known.

The Horned Frogs never trailed, and were only tied once, at 44 all, but didn't pull away from Milwaukee of the Horizon Conference until holding the Panthers scoreless for the last 2 1/2 minutes of the game, allowing TCU to double a 5 point lead into their largest margin of the game, their 10 point, 83-73 win.

TCU used a balanced team effort, getting double figures from a half dozen players, half of whom came off the bench, led by starter Craig Williams and Amric Fields, both of whom had 15 points.

The Beavers used a 12-0 run to open a 16-2 lead 4 minutes into the game and never let Western Illinois back into the game the rest of the way last Wednesday in their CBI opener. Jared Cunningham was a big part of the fast start that produced a 44-34 halftime lead, scoring 18 of his game high 22 points in the first half.

Oregon St. went on to defeat the Leathernecks, who were playing without 3 players who either quit the team or were suspended indefinitely, by a score of 80-59. Ahmad Starks added 16 points, and now needs only 5 3 pointers to surpass Gary Payton's Beaver record of 82 in a season.

Scouting the Horned Frogs

TCU averages 72 points per game, and allows an average of 71 points, which suggests a close game is in store, though 4 of their last 5 outings, including both wins and losses, have been decided by double digit margins.

The Horned Frogs' season high points are wins over 3 NCAA Tournament teams, 57-55 over Virginia, back in November in the Virgin Islands, 109-97 in overtime in mid-February over then #11 and now #25 UNLV, and 83-64 over then #21 and now #22 New Mexico.

The latter two came at home. TCU is not a good road team, having gone 3-8 on the road, with their only road win since November coming over Air Force, a sub .500 team. One of those road victories was an 83-59 win at USC.

5'9" senior guard Hank Thorns is usually the key to TCU's offense, as he averages 13.5 points per game, and 4.6 assists per game, leading the Horned Frogs in both categories.

Interestingly, 6'5" senior J.R. Cadot leads TCU in rebounding, with 7 per game. No one else even comes close to those numbers on the boards, with 6'8" junior Adrick McKinney next, with just 4 boards per game.

The Beavers should again enjoy a size advantage with their front line against the Horned Frogs, who finished 5th in the Mt. West Conference.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com