Razorbacks Squander Big Lead, Lose in Final Minute to TCU

Hall of Fame coach frustrated but finds lots of teaching points for young Arkansas team

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari came away with quite a few teaching points for his young team from Friday night's 66-65 loss in the last 10 seconds to TCU in the Hogs' second exhibition game. Calipari had a lot more to be happy with after Arkansas whipped preseason No. 1 Kansas 85-69 at Bud Walton Arena eight days ago. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

FORT WORTH, Texas — Hall of Fame coach John Calipari may not have been ecstatic with his team's performance throughout much of Friday night's exhibition game against TCU, but at least his Razorbacks seemed to be headed for another victory.

Not so fast, said the hometown Horned Frogs. Despite being picked to finish 10th in the admittedly talented Big 12 Conference, TCU is no pushover and proved it down the stretch against Arkansas.

The Razorbacks enjoyed their largest lead of 13 points at 54-31 with 1:42 left in the third quarter, but the Frogs closed it on an 8-0 run, setting up a sloppy, but tense, final 10 minutes at Dickies Arena on the TCU campus.,

The battle came down to the final minute. Brendan Wenzel, the Frogs' 6-foot-8 senior guard, sank a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to beat No. 16 Arkansas in the charity exhibition game at Dickies Arena three miles from the TCU campus.

Brendan Wenzel (1), the former Wyoming Cowboys guard, drives against Air Force Falcons forward Rytis Petraitis (31) during a March game last season. Wenzel, a senior, transferred to TCU and hit the game-winning 3-pointer to beat Arkansas Friday night at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. / Troy Babbitt-Imagn Images

Calipari shouldered the blame for the "loss" that doesn't count on Arkansas' record. Truth be told, after all the hype that followed the Hogs' decisive takedown of injury-riddled but still talented Kansas, Calipari might've been just a bit thankful to come away with so many teaching moments from the TCU tussle.

"What I’ve got to do with this group is teach them how to win and how to finish off games," Calipari said. "I mean, TCU gave us every opportunity to win the game.

"We missed lay-ups, we missed free throws, we took a bad threes. We gave up a rebound. We had another wide-open three that could have ended the game. I mean, we had no daggers. And so we’ve got to figure it out."

The Hogs have a short turnaround as the regular season begins Wednesday against Lipscomb, a Nashville-based school, at Walton Arena. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.

Arkansas Razorbacks guard Jeremiah Davenport (24) looks for a rebound as Lipscomb Bisons forward TJ Johnson (21) boxes out during the second half at Simmons Bank Arena on December 16, 2023. Arkansas led by eight at halftime and escaped with a hard-fought 69-66 victory. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Arkansas led Lipscomb 41-33 at halftime last December 16 in North Little Rock, but struggled to finish and escaped with a 69-66 victory against the Bisons.

Then comes a huge test as the Hogs travel back to the DFW Metroplex to play No. 8 Baylor at the American Airlines Cebter, home of the Dallas Mavericks. Baylor faces an even bigger challenge Monday when it travels to play No. 6 Gonzaga and coach Mark Few at the Bulldogs' den in Spokane, Washington.

The highlight for Arkansas against TCU was the play of Adou Thiero, the 6-foot-8 transfer who followed Calipari from Kentucky to Arkansas. He had 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

"I thought Adou did some good stuff, but again, we had some guys not play their best," Calipari said. "It’s like missing free throws … We missed two, three in a row. I mean, c’mon. We’re better than this.

Arkansas Razorbacks forward Adou Thiero talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel in Dallas. / Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

"But you win or you learn at this point, especially in an exhibition game. I think we had 10 turnovers in the second half (14 total). When the ball moved, we looked really good. When the ball didn’t move and it became 1-on-1, we weren’t as good."

Freshman point guard Boogie Fland had 11 points and five assists, but committed three turnovers. Fellow guard D.J. Wagner, who played exceptionally well in the Hogs' 85-69 rout of No. 1 Kansas a week earlier in the friendly confines of Bud Walton Arena,, struggled against TCU while scoring just six points and committing five turnovers.

Arkansas Razorbacks guard Boogie Fland (2) celebrates after scoring in the second half against the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks at Bud Walton Arena on October 25. Fland had a phenomenal coming-out party in front of the home crowd with 22 points, five assists and six steals in the 85-69 win. He struggled more in the Hogs' second outing with 11 points, five assists and three turnovers. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

"Now, from what I’m seeing, they out-toughed us," Calipari said. "In screening, they got people free, and it started breaking us down. Just that they were hitting us. And I knew it would this way. I had this talk with these guys yesterday, because I knew …

"So some of this, again, for the game you shoot 42%. Miss a bunch of threes again, and you hold them to 37%, and you get beat with 10 blocks. Ten blocks and we lose."

Thiero played 37 of the 40 minutes, Bland 36 and Wagner 34. Sophomore Zvonimir Ivišić (five points, eight rebounds) played 25 minutes, senior Nelly Davis (eight points, seven rebounds, two assists) played 22, freshman Karter Knox (five points, four rebounds) played 19, senior Trevon Brazile (six points, nine rebounds) played 18 and freshman Billy Richmond (four points) played nine.

"And again, this is what we need as a team, to figure out exactly what we are," Calipari said. "We’re not quite as good as it seems and we’re not quite as bad as it seems.

"But we’ve got to finish games off. And you’ve got to have the right guys. Maybe we had the wrong guys in. So like I said, this was one of those ones where we wanted to learn, and we learned a lot."

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