Foul trouble costs Horned Frogs

Kansas guard Kelly Oubre (12) ties up TCU's Trey Zeigler (32) in the 2nd half of the Jayhawk’s 64-59 win over TCU Thursday at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO.

Kansas City, Mo. ? The top-seeded Kansas University men’s basketball team may have had to play Thursday’s 64-59 victory over No. 9 seed TCU without leading scorer Perry Ellis, but the Horned Frogs were not about to feel sorry for them.

That’s because TCU, which fell to 18-15 overall and now awaits word on a potential NIT bid, was forced to play nearly half of Thursday’s loss with all-everything point guard Kyan Anderson sitting on the bench because of foul trouble.

“Kyan is a big part of what we do and me and him share the responsibilities for the team,” said TCU coach Trent Johnson following his team’s third loss to Kansas this season. “It kind of put (things) in my hands the whole second half and we just tried to battle and keep ourselves in the game.”

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After picking up two fouls early on and heading into halftime with a third, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Dallas senior picked up foul No. 4 at the 16:37 mark of the second half. He did not check in again until fewer than five minutes remained in the game. Even then, his time on the floor was short-lived, as he fouled out with 3:47 to play after getting tangled up with KU’s Wayne Selden Jr. following a Selden offensive rebound. KU led 57-53 at the time.

“I picked up a couple quick fouls early and just the rhythm of the offense got a little bit shook when I came out,” Anderson said. “I’m definitely disappointed I didn’t get to fight with them throughout the game.”

Anderson did not dwell on his disqualification following Thursday’s loss. But he could not help but feel like such a closely contested game might have been at least a little different had he been able to play more in the second half and in crunch time.

“Me being able to play would’ve given us more opportunities for more plays to happen,” he said. “I definitely feel like if I was in there a little bit longer something would’ve opened up and we could’ve used me, maybe even as a decoy or something, to open up the offense.”

TCU senior Trey Zeigler, who led the Frogs with 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting, whole-heartedly agreed and said Anderson’s absence took its toll.

“Kyan creates a lot for me, he creates a lot for the rest of the team and for himself,” said Zeigler, who was 8-of-8 from the free-throw line but also turned it over eight times. “Usually me and him share the ball-handling duties and I was more tired than I usually would be. It really hurt us not having Kyan out there.”

Had it not been for a career game by KU freshman Kelly Oubre Jr. (25 points, including 15-of-19 shooting from the free throw line), the Frogs might have found a way to shock Kansas (25-7) even without Anderson. Oubre, who was scoreless in six total shots in two previous meetings with TCU, was not to be denied, though.

“He didn’t really do anything different,” said Zeigler of Oubre. “We tried to guard him with our 4 man and he took advantage. That was the most aggressive I’ve seen him.”