KANSAS CITY — From Tubby Smith’s coach of the year coronation to Texas Tech (presumably) locking up its first NCAA bid in nine seasons, Wednesday’s opening-round Big 12 tournament game against undermanned TCU felt like a formality.
Consider us formally stunned.
TCU pulled it out 67-62.
Chauncey Collins delivered a huge first half, scoring 16 of his 19 points, and nearly cracking his 5-foot-something body on what surely will stand as the damnedest dunk of the week. Vladimir Brodziansky produced 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks, and Brandon Parrish scored 15 points with more good 3-point shooting as the Frogs (12-20) became the first bottom seed to win a game since the Big 12 dropped to 10 teams.
“Once a kid like (Collins) gets it going, he is hard to handle because he really stretches it from the perimeter,” said TCU coach Trent Johnson. “So he has freedom when he is making good decisions.
West Virginia (24-7), fresh-legged from a bye, will try to make it nine straight wins over TCU on Thursday night in the quarterfinals. This season’s two finals were 95-87 in Fort Worth and 73-42 in Morgantown.
“I only recall the first game, and I thought we were pretty competitive,” Johnson said. “I don’t know what happened in Morgantown—that thing was over in like the first five minutes.”
The Red Raiders (19-12), clocking in at the Sprint Center with a No. 26 RPI, came out flatter than Lubbock and were beaten by team No. 185. At a minimum it will hurt Texas Tech’s seeding in the NCAAs and push Smith’s team back toward the bubble.
“You always have doubts, and that’s why I was concerned about today’s game,” Smith said. “But the body of work we’ve put in throughout the year—strength of schedule, you know the wins we’ve had—I think we’ve got a very good shot of getting in. We’ll have to see. But we didn’t help ourselves tonight obviously.”
Tipoff: Thursday, 7 p.m., Sprint Center in Kansas City (ESPNU)
RPIs: West Virginia 9, TCU 169
Scouting TCU: Collins (11.8 points, 3.1 rebounds) scored 20 in each loss to WVU, playing 36 and 37 minutes respectively. How much bounce can he muster the day after a 40-minute outing vs. Texas Tech? … Parrish (8.7 points, 3.5 rebounds) with Collins to make 7-of-10 from 3 in Wednesday’s upset. Malique Trent (11.5 points, 2.6 assists) had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio for the team that commits the most turnovers in the Big 12. … The 6-10 Brodziansky (9.5 points, 4.4 rebounds), the physical Chris Washburn (6.9 points, 4.1 rebounds) and the oftentimes too-quiet Karviar Shepherd (7.5 points, 5.4 rebounds) rounded out what was essentially a seven-man rotation vs. Tech.
WVU trends: Jaysean Paige (14.3 points, 3.6 rebounds) is the go-to guy, but averages only 22 minutes, which leads to six Mountaineers scoring nine points or more per game. … After Wednesday’s shootaround, Devin Williams (12.7 points, 9.1 rebounds) offered this take on WVU’s 0-3 tourney record: “We’re here to stay. We’re here to compete. We’re here to show up and show out.” … Tarik Phillip (9.5 points, 2.9 assists) and Jevon Carter (9.2 points, 3.4 assists) share the point guard duties for now, though Carter may spend more time at his natural shooting guard spot next season once Beetle Bolden is healthy. … Defense has always been Jonathan Holton’s (9.4 points, 7.8 rebounds) emphasis, but did Bob Huggins think Nate Adrian’s (4.8 points, 3.2 rebounds) was capable of guarding like this? “Nah. I thought he’d make a bunch of shots. I thought he’d be a great pick-and-pop guy.”
Prediction: West Virginia 80-58