NCAA News Wire
Kansas 91, TCU 69
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated16 Feb 2022
FORT WORTH, Texas — Andrew Wiggins wasn’t part of the Kansas team that endured one of the school’s most shocking upset losses a year ago.
On Saturday, he made sure the Jayhawks redeemed themselves.
Kansas’ star freshman guard scored a game-high 25 points for eighth-ranked Kansas, which never gave TCU a chance in a 91-69 victory at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
Fellow freshman Joel Embiid had 14 points and six rebounds and sophomore forward Perry Ellis led all rebounders with 14 for Kansas, which controlled the inside against the undersized Horned Frogs, who played with only two players over 6-foot-7.
Kansas improved to 15-5 and 6-0 in the Big 12, two games ahead of Oklahoma and Texas.
The Frogs stayed winless in conference at 0-7 while falling to 9-10 overall on the season.
Freshman forward Brandon Parrish had 15 points for the Horned Frogs, whose struggles from the field in the first half put them in a hole.
TCU shot just 31 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, while Kansas blistered the field during the same timeframe, hitting on 62 percent of its shots.
Kansas lost here a season ago 62-55 on national television, but TCU didn’t have the manpower to pull a similar upset a year later.
TCU played with only eight scholarship players, including freshman center Karviar Shepherd, who sat out most of the first half in foul trouble.
Wiggins was 8-for-13 from the field in doing just a little of everything. He also collected five rebounds and had five assists.
Wiggins paced the Jayhawks with 19 points in the first half, including a 3-pointer from the top of the arc that put Kansas up 21 — 43-22 — with 3:50 left.
Kansas shot a blistering 61.5 percent from the field and really heated up in the last 7:30 minutes, hitting 7-of-9 heading into the halftime.
Wiggins was 6-for-8 from the field and 2-for-3 on 3-pointers.
TCU, meanwhile, was 3-for-9 during the same stretch and shot just 31 percent in the first 20 minutes.
Forward Brandon Parrish’s 3-pointer as time expired represented TCU’s eighth made field goal of the first half and cut the Frogs’ deficit to 53-21.
Fields led TCU with 11 first-half points.
NOTES: Entering Saturday, Kansas was 11-1 in games in which it shot 50 percent or better. The Jayhawks have shot better than 50 percent in seven of their last nine games, including four of their past five Big 12 games. … TCU was 2-22 in two-plus seasons in the Big 12 entering the game, including last season’s upset of Kansas at home. … The Horned Frogs were playing with only eight scholarship players and only two standing 6-foot-7 or taller. The meeting between these two schools was the third as Big 12 conference peers, but sixth all time, dating to the NCAA Midwest Regional in 1952. The Jayhawks topped the Horned Frogs 68-64 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. … Up next for Kansas is a game against Iowa State on Wednesday at home. TCU won’t take the floor again until Feb. 1 at Texas Tech.
