Killer Frogs

Men's Basketball: TCU Beats Alcorn State 71-48

The Frogs take care of business at home heading into Feast Week.

Nicholas Girimonte

Noah Reynolds drives to the basket in TCU's win over Alcorn State on November 19, 2024.
Noah Reynolds drives to the basket in TCU's win over Alcorn State on November 19, 2024. / X: @TCUBasketball
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TCU beat Alcorn State 71-48 in their first game coming off the loss at Michigan.

The Horned Frog defense carried them to this one despite starting center Ernest Udeh Jr. being ruled out with injury.

Lockdown Defense

To put it simply, TCU's defense was the reason they won this game.

The Frogs held Alcorn State to 48 points, the lowest since January 1, 2024 against Texas A&M Commerce.

Alcorn State shot just 30% FG and 31% from three-point range.

TCU forced 18 turnovers on nine steals and eight blocks, definitely a performance that should have happened against this team and won them the game.

Freshman Bigs

One of the biggest storylines for TCU basketball right now is Ernest Udeh Jr. being out with a lower back injury suffered against Texas State.

That called for true freshmen big men David Punch and Malick Diallo to take over the center position, to which they delivered.

Punch had 10 points and seven rebounds on 4-7 shooting with five blocks on the night.

The five blocks was the most in a game for a Horned Frog since Kevin Samuel had five against Kansas State on February 20, 2021.

Diallo had six points on 3-3 FG and five rebounds with a block and a steal to go with it.

In both their fourth career games, these are big performances for the first-year players.

Beat on the Boards

By far, the biggest thing noted in the press conference was the need for TCU to improve rebounding wise.

The Frogs got out-rebounded 36-33 by Alcorn State, something unacceptable for a team of that caliber.

Jamie Dixon took blame for this in the postgame presser, saying that they should have done more in practice to emphasize rebounding.

With Ernest Udeh Jr., TCU's best rebounder, out, it will obviously make things tougher on the Frogs, but regardless this has been a consistent issue so far this season and one that needs to improve.

TCU now has over a week off before they head to Palm Springs for the Acrisure Classic during Thanksgiving Week.

Dixon said postgame that Ernest Udeh Jr. might be back, but regardless this tournament will be an important one for the season.

Postgame Press Conferences

Jamie Dixon

David Punch, Trazarien White, and Noah Reynolds

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Nicholas Girimonte
NICHOLAS GIRIMONTE

Nicholas is a student at TCU majoring in Communication Studies with a minor in Journalism. He's from the Bay Area but now calls New Braunfels, Texas home. There's nothing he likes more than watching TCU sports.

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