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GoFrogs: Samuel Propels TCU to 70-65 Win Over Tulsa

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https://gofrogs.com/news/2020/11/28/mens-basketball-samuel-propells-tcu-to-win-70-65-over-tulsa.aspx

GoFrogs: Samuel Propels TCU to 70-65 Win Over Tulsa
Next Game:
vs. Liberty
11/29/2020 | 2:30 p.m.
ESPN2
AM 570 KLIF

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Kevin Samuel's career night propelled the TCU men's basketball team to a 70-65 win over Tulsa Saturday night in the semifinal of the Hall of Fame Classic Presented by ShotTracker at the T-Mobile Center.

Samuel led the Frogs (2-0) with a team-high 16 points and game-highs in rebounds (18) and blocks (2). He tied his career-high of 18 rebounds set on Jan. 25, 2020 at Arkansas. Freshman Mike Miles added 12 points, nine of which came in the second half, and three assists.

Tulsa (0-1) jumped out to a 14-4 lead over the first seven minutes of play as TCU struggled offensively to start, missing 10 of their first 12 shots. TCU began to cut into the deficit, as consecutive 3-pointers from Francisco Farabello and RJ Nembhard regained the lead for TCU at 21-20 with six minutes remaining in the half. The Frogs led 36-30 at the half after TCU made 7 of its final 12 shots of the half. Samuel led the way for the Frogs with nine points and 12 rebounds, the most rebounds he has recorded in a half in his career.

The Horned Frogs stretched their lead to as many as 10 at 44-34 with 17:11 remaining following a Samuel putback and free throw. Tulsa came back to tie the game at 57-57 on a Brandon Rachal 3-pointer with 4:46 remaining, but Miles answered on the other end with a three of his own to give the Horned Frogs a lead back that they would not relinquish. TCU made five of its final six free throw attempts over the final 25 seconds of play to seal a 70-65 win.

Up Next
TCU will face Liberty (2-1) Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the championship game of the Hall of Fame Classic Presented by ShotTracker. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

Team Notes
- The Horned Frogs improved to 2-0 for the seventh consecutive season.
- TCU won its third-straight against Tulsa to move to 13-21 all-time against the Golden Hurricane, including 3-3 in neutral meetings.
- TCU improved to 9-1 in midseason tournaments under Jamie Dixon and 4-4 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
- The Frogs moved to 25-2 under Jamie Dixon in games played in November.
- TCU won despite being outshot 50.0 to 36.4 percent. It marked the first time since at least the 2009-10 season that TCU won a game while it allowed an opponent field goal percentage of at least 50 percent while shooting less than 37 percent as a team.
- The Horned Frogs improved to 8-25 when their opponent shoots greater than 50 percent and 10-42 when being out-shot by their opponent under Jamie Dixon.
- TCU outrebounded Tulsa 39-32. The Frogs are now 2-0 this season and 73-22 under Jamie Dixon when outrebounding their opponent.
- The Frogs started with the lineup of Francisco Farabello, RJ Nembhard, Chuck O'Bannon Jr., Kevin Samuel and Kevin Easley Jr. for the first time this season.

Individual Notes
- TCU was without junior forward Jaedon Ledee for the second consecutive game.
- The contest marked Jamie Dixon's first ever meeting against Tulsa as a head coach.
- Kevin Samuel scored a game-high 16 points and tied a career-high with 18 rebounds.
- Eight of Samuel's rebounds came on the offensive end, the most offensive rebounds by a TCU player since JD Miller hauled in eight offensive rebounds at Iowa State on Feb. 20, 2016.
- Samuel tied his career-high with six free throws made and set a new career high with 11 free throw attempts.
- Samuel added a pair of blocks, moving him into fourth on the TCU all-time blocked shots leaderboard with 167 for his career. He passed Kurt Thomas (1991-95), who had 166 blocks in his TCU career.
- Samuel became the first player since at least the 2010-11 season to score at least 16 points and haul in at least 18 rebounds against Tulsa.
- Freshman Mike Miles scored 12 points and tied a team-high with 3 assists.
- Miles became the first TCU freshman to score in double-figures in his first two career games since Desmond Bane and Jaylen Fisher accomplished the feat in 2016.
- Francisco Farabello scored 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range and added a game-high three steals on the defensive end.
- Taryn Todd scored 9 points off the bench, including 2-of-5 shooting from 3-point range and 3-of-4 shooting from the free throw line, and recorded his first career steal.
- Todd became the first TCU player to make multiple threes off the bench since Francisco Farabello accomplished the feat against George Mason (Dec. 30, 2019) and Iowa State (Jan. 4, 2020) last season.
- Farabello tied a career-high with three 3-pointers made, last occurring on Nov. 18, 2019 against Air Force.
- RJ Nembhard made his season debut after being unavailable for TCU's opening game.
- Kevin Easley Jr. scored eight points, including 2-of-5 shooting from 3-point range, and added six rebounds.
- Nembhard chipped in eight points and two assists in 36 minutes of action.
- In his second consecutive start, Chuck O'Bannon Jr. added seven points, five rebounds and a steal in 15 minutes of action.
 
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