WVU - TCU Preview: Sweet Frogs

Game Day Vitals

• West Virginia Mountaineers (8-5, 0-0 Big XII) vs. TCU Horned Frogs (9-3, Big XII 0-0)
• Series Record: 2-0 all time, never outside of conference play
• Location: Daniel-Meyer Coliseum (Capacity: 7,166) Fort Worth, Texas
• Vegas Lines: N/A
  
• O/U Jonathan Holton mentions: 1.5
• Date: January 4th, 2014, at 4:00PM EST
• Television: Big XII Network / ESPN3
• Radio Affiliates

Opponent Information

• TCU Horned Frogs (9-3, Big XII 0-0), has won 5 out of their last 6
• Head Coach - Trent Johnson, Second year as TCU head coach, 246-209 career (.540)
• Last Result - Win vs. Texas Southern 77-64
• Official Horned Frogs athletics website
• SBN TCU blog - Frogs O' War

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/TCUBasketball">@TCUBasketball</a> will open its conference slate Sat. vs. West Virginia at the DMC. Tip-off is set for 3PM CT. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TCUbball&amp;src=hash">#TCUbball</a> <a href="http://t.co/E40LykVfOx">pic.twitter.com/E40LykVfOx</a></p>&mdash; TCUAthletics (@TCU_Athletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/TCU_Athletics/statuses/419153143708930049">January 3, 2014</a></blockquote>

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Pre-game Fun Zone? I'm sold. Also, they call it the DMC. That is just fantastic.

Game Preview

It's really hard to tell if TCU is any good. The Horned Frogs are at the bottom of the Big XII in RPI while having a pretty decent record. One major reason for that is they lost to some mystery school from the Big South and have none of their nine wins are very credible (@Wazzu and @Miss St are the closest to notable.)

While it is tough to say if the Frogs are for real this year, it is obvious that they are miles better from where they were in 2012. One factor attributing to their progress is the return of 6'9 junior forward Amric Fields. In this recent Frogs O' War article, Jamie Plunkett points out that a healthy Fields provides a noticeable effect in the TCU squad while on the court. That, and his 13 points a game forces defenses to give a little less help with leading scorer Kyan Anderson and outside shooter Brandon Parris.

While that's all well and good, we have our own problems. The Mountaineers are completely capable of beating garbage teams so badly that the game is boring. WVU has heart and young talent. At some point, you have to stop being young. Nathan Adrian and Terry Henderson are both coming off their best games thus far this season while Brandon Watkins has been doing nothing but getting better each night. If Eron Harris can give West Virginia a good showing and Staten plays like he has been, baby, we got ourselves a stew goin'. I see no reason why the Eers can't get their first victory toward proving to themselves that, yes, this team can win.

Prediction: WVU 81, TCU 75

#FreeHolton