Horned Frogs Choke Away Win At Kansas With Massive Late Mistakes

There's nothing shameful about losing to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. But TCU probably isn't taking any solace in that after blowing what appeared to be a surefire victory on Tuesday night. 

The Horned Frogs visited the No. 22 Jayhawks riding a six-game win streak. Kansas was coming off a loss at unranked UCF. 

The first half was back-and-forth with Kansas taking a five-point lead into halftime. But in the second half, TCU came alive offensively. The Horned Frogs opened the second half on a 31-10 run to open up a 16-point lead with 11:30 remaining in the game. According to ESPN, TCU had a 96% chance to win the game. 

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It gets worse, though. They maintained a double-digit lead and held a 15-point advantage at the 4:30 mark. The win percentage jumped up to 99%. Kansas went on a mini run and cut the deficit to six points with just under two minutes left. However, TCU hit a three-pointer with 1:14 to go to stretch the lead to 85-76. 

One might assume that a nine-point lead with just over a minute to play would be safe. One might be able to assume from the headline that it was not, in fact, safe. Kansas hit its own three-pointer to cut the deficit back to six and then fouled TCU on the ensuing possession. 

Kansas players celebrate after beating TCU. 

(Getty Images)

Brock Harding missed the front end of the one-and-one and Kansas responded with another basket. Harding, who missed the previous free throw, fouled Melvin Council on the shot and the Jayhawks guard converted the three-point play to get Kansas within three. 

Once again, Kansas fouled Harding and once again he missed the front end of the one-and-one. This time, though, the Jayhawks missed a three-point attempt and fouled Liutauras Lelevicius with 12 seconds to go. Lelevicius made both shots to give TCU a five-point advantage. 

Kansas scored a two-point basket on the next possession with 5 seconds left. Harding turned the ball over on the ensuing inbound pass, giving Kansas a chance for a game-tying shot. The Jayhawks got the ball to Darryn Peterson, and TCU fouled him as he went up for a three-pointer. Peterson connected on all three free throws and the game went to overtime. 

Let's recap quickly: 

• TCU led by 16 points in the second half (96% chance of winning).
• TCU had a 15-point lead with 4:30 to go (99% chance of winning).
• TCU had a 9-point lead with 1:10 left (97% chance of winning).
• TCU had a 5-point lead with 12 seconds remaining (99% chance of winning).
• TCU had a 3-point lead, and the ball, with 5 seconds to go (97% chance of winning).
• Kansas tied the game and sent it to overtime.

One can probably guess what happened next. TCU never led in overtime and Kansas won, 104-100. 

It's hard to really overstate how much had to go wrong for TCU to lose that game. I don't want to be too hard on Brock Harding, a 21-year-old junior, but he had a rough final minute. Two missed free throws, a foul and a turnover sunk the Horned Frogs. To make matters worse, Harding had always been a good free-throw shooter (74% shooter entering Tuesday's game) before going 1-4 against Kansas. 

Ultimately, this is a tough one to swallow for TCU, which has four losses this season by a combined 14 points. 

And they don't have much time to regroup since their next game is at home against the top-ranked team in the nation, Arizona, on Saturday.