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Despite lulls, men’s basketball
team gets victory By Matt Stiver After he ran into press row with 5:36 left to play, senior point guard Thomas McTyer inquired of those seated, “How y’all doing?” After sparking a 20-6 run that put away the Grambling State Tigers, McTyer and the rest of the Frogs were doing well having survived a scare from a 1-13 Grambling squad. In a game billed by head coach Billy Tubbs as a tune-up for Saturday’s contest against Southern Methodist, TCU gave yet another erratic performance and contributed to another opposing player’s career game during a 120-95 victory Wednesday evening at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The Frogs shot 46 percent from the floor (35 of 76) and missed numerous put-back attempts. The Tigers’ Keith Howell scored a career-high 30 points on 11 of 21 shooting. “I felt some things happened that we knew what to do, but didn’t do them,” Tubbs said.
McTyer entered the game with 12:54 left after senior guard Larry Allaway, who would later return, fell awkwardly on his right wrist while making a leaping layup. After junior guard Greedy Daniels swiped a ball from Devin Ewing, McTyer fed him for a wide-open three pointer. During a three-minute span following a Grambling State timeout, McTyer scored eight points, two of them deep three-pointers, and assisted on another. The Frogs went from leading by three to leading by 17. McTyer scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half. As they made their run, the Frogs ratcheted up their defensive pressure as well. Grambling, who had shot 74 percent over the first 8:02 of the second half, shot only 30 percent (7 of 19) the rest of the way. Daniels said the Tigers, who tried, with success, to run with the Frogs, finally tired. “I thought they were tired in the first half,” Daniels said. “Their engine, (Howell), that was running them ran out of gas.” After leading 30-5 at the 5-minute mark, the Frogs allowed the Tigers to remain in the game by slacking off their defensive pressure. The Tigers stayed in the game by recording more steals (15 to 14) and committing fewer turnovers (17 to 19) than the Frogs. “I didn’t see a spark (in the second half), but I’ll see it here Saturday,” Tubbs said. Daniels, who tied Mike Jones’ single-season steals record of 96, admitted the Frogs lost their focus after jumping out fast. “The game got boring,” Daniels said. “We played hard because we knew we had some bad stretches.” After tying the steals record, Daniels seemed
more concerned with a loftier goal, one held by another Tubbs-coached
player. Mookie Blaylock, who played for Tubbs at Oklahoma from 1986-89,
holds the NCAA single-season steals record with 150. Matt Stiver |
