Texas basketball looks to build momentum against solid TCU team

Last season, Texas suffered a shocking one point loss on the road to TCU that nearly derailed the Longhorns’ tournament hopes. In this year’s trip to Fort Worth, Texas doesn’t have any March Madness chances to be derailed, and the Horned Frogs’ now Jamie Dixon led unit is far more competitive than the 2015-2016 incarnation.

This spells a recipe for another notch in the L column for the 9-13 ‘Horns, especially considering 15-7 TCU already took down Texas at the Erwin Center 61-64 on January 11th.

However, don’t count out Shaka’s squad, as Texas is coming off of one of its finer games of the year, defeating a very capable Texas Tech team Wednesday night. Promising signs against the Red Raiders including Eric Davis finally finding his stroke (going 3-6 from deep) and Jarrett Allen emerging as a dominant, confident force in the paint.

Allen will need to have another huge contribution against TCU. Last time against the Horned Frogs, the former McDonald’s All-American had a breakout performance, amassing 18 points and grabbing nine boards. Jamie Dixon’s TCU team is known for being a force on the glass, so Allen and the other Texas bigs must hold their own and keep the rebound battle close.

It’s startling that the Horned Frogs were able to defeat the ‘Horns last time on 6-24 three point shooting and 17 turnovers, but dominant performances from TCU’s Vlad Brodziansky and Jaylen Fisher were the difference. Brodzianksy, a 6-11 sophomore, had a particularly dominant performance as the Slovakia native put up 19 points and had three blocks.

An important change of circumstance is that on January 11th against TCU, Texas points leader Tevin Mack was still playing forward. He was suspended January 12th and hasn’t returned to the court since.

Tip-off begins at noon CST, and the game will be broadcasted on ESPNEWS.