TCU Wins Hall of Fame Classic

Sunday, November 29

Kansas City, Mo.

2:30 p.m.

TCU

3-0,0-0Big 12

Liberty

2-2,0-0ASUN

Liberty

TCU

TCU Wins Hall of Fame Classic

11/29/2020 5:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Junior center Kevin Samuel named tournament MVP

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Balanced scoring and a solid defensive effort helped the TCU men's basketball team claim a 56-52 win over Liberty on Sunday in the championship game of the Hall of Fame Classic Presented by ShotTracker at the T-Mobile Center.

Junior RJ Nembhard led the Frogs (3-0) with 14 points and 4 assists, while Francisco Farabello, Kevin Samuel, and Taryn Todd chipped in eight points each on a combined 10-of-20 shooting. Samuel was named the tournament MVP, thanks in large part to his 16 points and 18 rebounds in Saturday's semifinal win over Tulsa. He had eight points and five rebounds against Liberty and was joined by Nembhard on the all-tournament team.

TCU (3-0) and Liberty (2-2) got off to slow starts offensively as both teams were shooting below 36 percent through the first 14 minutes of play. The Flames made three of their final four shots of the half to trim TCU's lead to just 27-26 at the break. Eight different Horned Frogs scored in the first half, led by Todd's six points in only five minutes.

Liberty took its first lead since the opening minute of play at 33-32 with 13:07 remaining, but TCU responded with a 13-3 run to match its largest lead of the game of nine at 45-36 with 7:49 remaining. Liberty made a late 7-0 run over the final two minutes to cut TCU's lead to 54-52 with just over 30 seconds remaining. In the closing seconds, a key deflection from Farabello and two late free throws from Nembhard sealed a 56-52 win for the Horned Frogs.

Up Next
TCU returns home to play Northwestern State (0-3) on Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

Team Notes
- The Horned Frogs improved to 3-0 for the fifth consecutive season.
- The win marked TCU's fourth in-season tournament championship in five seasons under Jamie Dixon.
- TCU faced Liberty for the first time since Jan. 3, 1997, when TCU won 80-68 in Fort Worth. This is the only other meeting between the schools in program history.
- The game marked the first time TCU has faced an Atlantic Sun opponent away from Fort Worth.
- The Frogs improved to 3-1 all-time against Atlantic Sun opponents.
- TCU improved to 10-1 in midseason tournaments and 5-4 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City under Dixon.
- The Frogs moved to 26-2 under Jamie Dixon in games played in November.
- TCU outrebounded Liberty 36-30. The Frogs improved to 3-0 this season and 74-22 under Dixon when outrebounding their opponent.
- TCU shot a season-best 75 percent (12-of-16) from the free throw line.
- The Frogs started with the lineup of Francisco Farabello, RJ Nembhard, Chuck O'Bannon Jr., Kevin Samuel and Kevin Easley Jr. for the second consecutive game (2-0).

Individual Notes
- Samuel was named tournament MVP. Nembhard was named to the all-tournament team, along with South Carolina's AJ Lawson and Liberty's Chris Parker and Darius McGhee.
- The contest marked Jamie Dixon's first ever meeting against Liberty as a head coach.
- RJ Nembhard totaled team highs in points (14) and assists (4).
- Nembhard added six rebounds, five of which coming in the second half. It was his ninth career game recording at least six rebounds, and TCU improved to 6-3 in such games.
- Eight of Nembhard's 14 points came from the free throw line. His 88.9 free throw percentage (8-of-9) was his career best in a game and the best by a TCU player since Jaedon Ledee shot 7-of-7 from the free throw line on Jan. 18, 2020 against Oklahoma (min. 5 attempts).
- Francisco Farabello scored eight points, including 2-of-3 shooting from 3-point range.
- Farabello has made multiple 3-pointers in three consecutive games for the first time in his career.
- Kevin Samuel recorded eight points, five rebounds, one steal and a blocked shot 26 minutes of action.
- Samuel has now blocked at least one shot in 16 of his last 17 games played.
- Taryn Todd scored eight points on 3-of-6 shooting off the bench.
- Todd has made a 3-pointer in every game this season, shooting 5-of-9 (55.5 percent) from 3-point range over this three-game stretch.
- Kevin Easley Jr. scored seven points and recorded seven rebounds in his third consecutive start.
- Freshman Mike Miles added six points and tied a team high with seven rebounds off the bench. Miles' seven rebounds were the most by a TCU guard off the bench since Jaire Grayer hauled in eight rebounds off the bench against Southwestern on Nov. 7, 2019.
- TCU was without junior forward Jaedon Ledee for the third consecutive game.