TCU Basketball: Horned Frogs take over in second half to reach NIT championship game

Mar 28, 2017; New York, NY, USA; UCF Knights guard B.J. Taylor (1) and TCU Horned Frogs guard Kenrich Williams (34) battle for a loose ball during the first half in the semifinals of the 2017 NIT Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports /

TCU controlled the second half as they defeated UCF and advanced to the NIT championship game Thursday night versus Georgia Tech.

The TCU Horned Frogs will play in their first-ever NIT Championship game on Thursday night. They reached the finals by defeating UCF 68-53 in New York City.

TCU found themselves down by as much as 10 points in the first half, but rallied back and trailed by two at halftime.

From there, the Horned Frogs jumped out of the gate in the second half, outscoring the Knights 39-22.

Vladimir Brodziansky had a big night for TCU, scoring 18 points to lead all scorers and also grabbing nine rebounds.

Horned Frogs’ guard Kenrich Williams, meanwhile, had 14 points and 14 rebounds to secure a double-double.

UCF struggled offensively as they shot 33 percent for the game and went 6-for-25 from three.

Matt Williams led the way for the Knights with 15 points while B.J. Taylor scored 10.

The Horned Frogs didn’t have to contend with UCF’s top defender Tacko Fall for too long, as he played just 23 minutes. Fall scored seven points and had five rebounds with six blocks.

TCU’s opponent for the NIT Championship game Thursday night will be Georgia Tech, who earlier in the evening defeated Cal State-Bakersfield.

The Horned Frogs faced a similar situation to that of Georgia Tech when they hired a new coach going into this season.

Jamie Dixon, an alum and former Pittsburgh Head Coach, took over a program that hadn’t made it to the NCAA tournament in nearly 20 years.

Much like Josh Pastner at Georgia Tech, Dixon has gotten a lot out of this TCU team this season. They got regular season wins versus Illinois State, Iowa State, and Kansas State.

Unfortunately, TCU lost seven straight games to close out the regular season, which ultimately shut the door on an at-large berth.

The Horned Frogs did make a solid run in the Big 12 Tournament, however. They defeated Oklahoma and knocked off Kansas before losing to Iowa State in the semifinals.

TCU had a solid run through the NIT, first defeating Fresno State, Iowa in overtime, and then Richmond in the quarterfinal.

Next: Jawun Evans leaving Oklahoma State

Thursday night’s NIT final features two teams that could make a lot of noise next season.

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