The TCU Horned Frogs will face conference opponent New Mexico today in Albuquerque at the Lobos’ University Arena, known as The Pit, at 9 p.m.
Both teams enter to contest with a three-game losing streak and a single win in conference play.
Lobo’s senior guard Dairese Gary leads his team in scoring with an average of 13.8 points and 5.2 assists per game.
Three of the remaining New Mexico (13-7, 1-4 MWC) starters average double-digit points per game. This will pose a challenge for the Frogs defensively as each of TCU’s last five opponents has shot 54 percent or better in at least one half of play.
The TCU(10-11, 1-5 MWC) squad leads the MWC with a 72 percent defensive rebounding rate. The Frogs know that playing at The Pit is always a challenge. The Pit is the fourth-loudest college basketball arena in the nation.
“It’s a special place, they get unbelievable support,” head basketball coach Jim Christian said. “It’s one of the more difficult environments to play in our league. They’re very, very basketball knowledgeable fans.” Junior guard Hank Thorns, who was named TCU Athlete of the Week, said playing at The Pit would be interesting.
“I’ve heard it’s pretty hard (to play at New Mexico), I haven’t been there yet but I heard it’s pretty loud,” Thorns said. “I came from the ACC so I’m used to playing in front of 30,000 people. We’ve just gotta have fun with the game again. We gotta get passionate about it. We’ve gotta (score on) offense when someone scores on us. We’ve gotta find in ourselves somewhere, you know, to get that heart of a warrior back.”
Christian said with the Frogs trying to snap a three-game losing streak, the mentality of the game has to change.
“We have to play the game with better respect for one another, better respect for what we’re trying to do, a little more attention to detail and just feel good about ourselves again,” he said. “Right now when you go through tough stretches, it’s hard to feel good about yourself because everything you try to do gets beaten down. You gotta rise above that.”
Besides playing on the road, New Mexico will pose other challenges the Frogs must overcome if they want to pull out a victory.
“New Mexico is a very good basketball team, they’re very big, they’re an excellent rebounding team,” Christian said. “They score on the interior very, very well. Those are things we have not defended very well so those are going to be huge challenges. Our guys, again, I think they’re excited to play. I think we’ve had two good days of practice and preparation so we’re ready to go.”
Staff reporter Emily Agee contributed to this article.
Who: TCU vs. New Mexico
When: 9 p.m. tonight
Where: UNM University Arena (The Pit)
TV: The Mtn.
Radio: 1460 AM KCLE and 88.7 FM (KTCU)
GoFrogs.com : Follow GameTracker or listen live
