TCU will be chasing some momentum for the upcoming Big 12 Conference season when it hosts Incarnate Word on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Horned Frogs (6-3) return to the court after a week off for final exams. Their last outing was a 65-55 win over North Texas on a neutral court in Fort Worth during the Coast-to-Coast Challenge on Dec. 7.
Xavier Edmonds scored 16 points to lead TCU in the comeback win while David Punch had 12 points, 12 rebounds and four steals. Tanner Toolson added 10 points off the bench.
The Horned Frogs trailed 37-31 at halftime, but started the second half with a 7-0 run and held North Texas to just 18 points in the second half.
“It was good to win a game with defensive rebounding, which has to be our calling card — but it hasn’t been just yet,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “I liked how we did it. This was a very dangerous game. We got put in a situation where we had to find this game and play with one day of prep.
“We are a team that’s going to use different guys and Tanner was very big for us. We kept our big guys fresh by using our (depth) better.”
Monday’s game is the first of five straight at home for the Horned Frogs, with the next three over a seven-day span before a week-long break for Christmas.
Incarnate Word (5-5) absorbed an 84-83 loss at New Orleans in its most recent game on Dec. 8. Davion Bailey poured in 28 points in the setback while Tahj Staveskie and Harold Woods added 24 and 15 points, respectively.
The Cardinals have dropped two in a row after winning two straight and continue their back-and-forth campaign that included a 69-61 loss at Indiana in their only other game against a power conference opponent.
Incarnate Word is led by Bailey’s 20.4 points per game. Bailey, who averaged 3.5 baskets from 3-point range last season to finish second in Division I, has produced 30 3-pointers in nine games this season. That ranks among the nation’s top 30.
