In a crucial Big 12 matchup in Fort Worth, Texas, the visiting Texas Longhorns secured a 77-66 victory over the No. 25 TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday afternoon. Max Abmas played a pivotal role in the victory, scoring back-to-back 3-pointers as part of a personal 11-0 run during crunch time.
Texas (15-7, 4-5 Big 12) entered halftime with an 11-point lead, but the Horned Frogs rallied in the second half, briefly taking the lead with nine minutes to play. The game was tied at 64 when TCU’s Emanuel Miller made a pair of free throws with 3:53 left on the clock.
Abmas then took charge, contributing a layup and a free throw with 3:25 remaining. He followed up with two consecutive 3-pointers, the latter from an impressive 30 feet, extending Texas’ lead to 73-64 with 1:47 left. Abmas sealed the victory by adding four free throws in the final 42 seconds, finishing with a 21-point effort and breaking the Longhorns’ two-game losing streak.
Dylan Disu contributed 15 points, and Dillon Mitchell added 13 points and 11 rebounds for Texas.
TCU (16-6, 5-4) saw Miller lead with 15 points, while Avery Anderson III scored 13, and JaKobe Coles and Trevian Tennyson each added 10. The Horned Frogs had their three-game winning streak snapped.
TCU had a strong start, hitting five of its first six shots, including the first two 3-pointers, to build a 12-4 lead by the first media timeout. Despite TCU’s early lead, Texas chipped away at the margin, closing the gap to 21-18 midway through the first half.
The Horned Frogs maintained a 25-20 lead when Coles hit a jumper with 8:47 left before halftime. However, Texas responded with a 10-0 run, capped by Disu’s 3-pointer, to assume a five-point advantage. TCU narrowed the deficit to 32-30, but the Longhorns finished the half strong, outscoring the home team 11-2 to take a 43-32 lead into the break.
Disu and Mitchell led the Longhorns with 10 points each before halftime, while Anderson led all scorers with 11 points. Texas’ first-half lead was fueled by a 26-14 edge in points in the paint and capitalizing on five Horned Frogs’ turnovers in the final five minutes of the half.
