TCU and Colorado State will face each other knowing they probably can’t perform any worse to start Friday than they did down the stretch of their games the previous day.
Both teams will look to bounce back from disappointing defeats when they meet in the third-place game of the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert, Calif.
TCU overcame a 13-point, first-half deficit Thursday to take a pair of one-point leads in the second half before fading in a 69-52 loss to Santa Clara.
Colorado State led by one point with less than seven minutes left before Washington earned a 73-67 win.
TCU (4-2) didn’t lead Thursday until going ahead 39-38 on a 3-pointer by Frankie Collins with 15:46 left. The Horned Frogs took their final lead a little more than two minutes later on a putback dunk by Ernest Udeh Jr. but were outscored 29-11 the rest of the way.
The Horned Frogs missed 10 consecutive field-goal attempts following Udeh’s dunk and were 4 of 19 over the final 13:12, including 0-for-6 from 3-point land. TCU finished the game 1-of-17 from beyond the arc.
“We’ve got to get to work, obviously,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon told the Horned Frogs’ radio network following the game. “We’ve got a game (Friday). I told the guys, âThere’s nothing better than having an opportunity to get this thing out of your system by going and playing right away.'”
Colorado State coach Niko Medved likely feels the same way after his team suffered its third straight loss. The Rams (3-3), who trailed by as many as nine in the first half, led Washington 28-26 at intermission. They fell behind for nearly 11 straight minutes until a 6-0 run comprised entirely of free throws put them ahead 58-56 with 6:49 remaining,
But the Huskies scored the next 10 points — during which Colorado State missed five straight 3-pointers — to begin a game-ending 17-9 run.
Friday will mark the 23rd all-time game betweenTCU and Colorado State but the first since March 8, 2012, when the Rams evened the all-time series with an 81-60 win in the Mountain West Conference tournament. TCU moved to the Big 12 the following season.
