SMU (0-2) showed the potential to return home with its first win of the 2010-11 season, but instead returned to Moody Coliseum winless after going down to TCU 84-64 Tuesday night in Fort Worth.
“I don’t want to sugar coat it anymore, we’re a soft team,” head Coach Matt Doherty said. “Tonight we didn’t show any toughness. We didn’t show much resolve, and that’s very discouraging.”
The Horned Frogs (2-0) never surrendered the lead, going up by as many as 23 points in the second half, and never allowing the Mustangs to come within two points of them.
SMU came close to pulling ahead on two occasions, but between junior forward Robert Nyakundi getting into foul trouble late in the game and SMU’s high turnover rate, TCU continued to advance its lead throughout the entirety of the game.
Tuesday night’s loss marked the third consecutive year the Mustangs have fallen to the Horned Frogs, though SMU still holds a 101-85 advantage in the series.
Since the breakup of the Southwest Conference in 1996, the Mustangs have been 5-15 against TCU, with SMU’s last win over its cross-town rival in 2007 at Moody Coliseum.
Led by Nyakundi with 14 points on the night, SMU came close to tying the score for the first time late in the first half when the Mustangs managed to cut a 20-point TCU lead in half, but the Horned Frogs pulled ahead again in the final two minutes of the opening half to enter the locker room up 49-35.
TCU dominated the Mustangs from the start, collecting 17 points off SMU turnovers and shooting 64 percent from the field in the first half.
SMU, who remained scoreless for the final two minutes of the opening half, shot only 14-of-25 from the field and recorded only six points from the long range.
The second half told the same story, with TCU starting off on another series of scoring sprees. The Mustangs cut the half down to a 14-point lead down 30 seconds in, but the combined scoring efforts of TCU’s Garlon Green and Ronnie Moss continued to prove troublesome for SMU’s defense.
SMU freshman guard Jeremiah Samarrippas got his second start of the season, while senior guard Ryan Harp saw his first start of the season. Despite being in the starting lineup, they added only eight and four points, respectively.
“Nice kids can be tough, but when nice kids play nice you lose,” Doherty said. “I want nice kids to play tough. They either have to change their personality a little bit or, you know, we’ll struggle in bigger games.”
TCU ended the night with four players reaching double digits in scoring, led by Green and Sammy Yeagar with 17 points each. Nyakundi, despite leading the team in points, also committed the most turnovers. SMU finished the night with only seven shots from the field, having given up 27 points from 18 turnovers.
The Mustangs go in search for their first win of the season when they return to Moody Coliseum for the SMU Invitational on Friday against Portland State at 3 p.m. SMU will also play UC Riverside on Saturday night at 5:30 p.m.
