TCU To Battle Mississippi State Saturday
11/29/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014 | 6:00 p.m. CT | Corpus Christi, Texas | Radio Network: 1420 AM KPIR; SiriusXM |
Fans not able to attend the non-conference tilt against the Bulldogs can follow it live on CBS Sports Network with Sean Grande (Play-By-Play) and Bob Wenzel (Color) calling the action live.
The Opponent
Mississippi State comes into Saturday's showdown with a 5-0 overall record after dropping Saint Louis Friday, 75-50. Against the Billikens, Travis Daniels scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-11 from the field, while Gavin Ware tallied 16 points and three blocks. On the season, Ware is shooting a blistering 65.9 percent from the field, while averaging a team-leading 14.4 points per game. He has also corralled 7.6 boards a contest to go along with 12 blocks. Roquez Johnson has been just as productive, averaging 14.2 points a game and 5.4 rebounds.
The Series
The Horned Frogs and Bulldogs will battle for the fourth time in program history Saturday. TCU currently leads the all-time series at 2-1 after dropping Mississippi State last season, 71-61, in the 2013 Big 12/SEC Challenge. Prior to last year's showdown, the two teams hadn't met since the Frogs suffered a 64-60 setback to MSU during the 1990 season.
A Look Back
Charles Hill Jr. scored a career-high 20 points as TCU downed Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum in 2013, 71-61. TCU, who lead by as many as 18, was carried on the night by Hill Jr., who tallied a career-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Kyan Anderson also had a solid night, scoring 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting, while Michael Williams matched his previous career-high, chipping in with 11 points.
The Frogs, who shot 45.5 percent from the field and over 80 percent from the charity stripe against MSU, cleaned up the glass in 2013, out-rebounding the Bulldogs, 34-32. Karviar Shepherd did most of the damage as he grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds.
Could Shepherd Repeat?
With his 16 rebound performance at Mississippi State last season, Karviar Shepherd made some noise nationally as he posted the third-highest rebounding effort by a freshman in 2013-14 in the NCAA. Only Rice's Sean Obi (19) and Missouri's Johnathan Williams III (17) had more rebounds in a single-game than Shepherd during non-conference. The Dallas native's 16 boards were the fourth-highest rebounding mark in the Big 12 by a freshman since the 2009-10 season.
Hitting the 20-Point Mark
Against Radford, Kyan Anderson tallied 23 points on 7-of-8 from the floor, including 3-for-4 from deep. With his 20-plus outing, Anderson has now accomplished that feat 18 times in his career. The senior has posted back-to-back 20-plus outings seven times during his career. He has scored 20 or more points in three-straight games four times in his four year career.
Firing Out Of The Gate
TCU has outscored its first six opponents by a combined score of 50-19 in the first 4 minutes of action. During that span, the schools have gone a combined 7-for-26 from the field with 11 turnovers. Against Washington State, the Frogs opened the contest on a 14-0 run. WSU didn't even score from the field until 15:52 showed on the clock.
Powering The Glass
Prior to its contest against Bradley, TCU had out-rebounded each of its first five opponents. The Frogs only out-rebounded the opposition a total of eight times through 31 games a year ago, one of which came against Saturday's opponent Mississippi State.
The Frogs have totaled 241 boards through six games. It took the Purple and White nine games a year ago to hit that mark. After six games in 2013-14, TCU was only averaging 34.2 boards a game. This season, the Frogs are averaging 40.2 rebounds a contest after only six games.
Strong Out of the Gate
The Frogs haven't started a year 6-0 since going 9-0 to begin the 1997-98 campaign, which also happens to be the last time TCU made the NCAA Tournament. The last time the Frogs had opened their season, 4-0, came during the 2007-08 campaign.
TCU Notes
• Trent Johnson recorded his 250th career victory against Mississippi Valley State.
• TCU is 6-0 for the first time since 1997-98, which was the last time the Frogs made the NCAA Tournament.
• TCU is 21-4 when leading at the half under head coach Trent Johnson.
• TCU has started the same starting lineup for six-straight games.
• TCU has now held 19 opponents to 59 points or less under Trent Johnson.
• The Frogs amassed the most points in a single-game Monday since scoring 108 against Texas State in 2009.
• TCU eclipsed the 100-point barrier for the first time under Johnson against Mississippi Valley State.
• Kyan Anderson is No. 13 all-time in scoring in program history with 1,270 points.
• Anderson only needs three more points to move into No. 12 all-time.
• Anderson posted his 61st double-figure scoring output of his career against Bradley.
• Anderson has 18 20-point games in his four-year career.
• TCU is 6-3 when Karviar Shepherd grabs double-digit boards.
• Kenrich Williams scored in double-figures for a third time in six games vs. Bradley.
• Hudson Price posted his second-straight double-digit scoring outing vs. Radford.
• Amric Fields saw his first action of the 2014-15 season vs. Radford. He played a season-high 19 minutes Friday.
• TCU takes on fellow SEC school Ole Miss next Thursday in the 2014 SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
