Men’s Basketball: Brendan Wenzel’s late three-pointer knocks off the Bears in Waco

The Horned Frogs are now 3-3 in Big 12 play.

The last time the TCU Horned Frogs took on the Baylor Bears in Waco, Jameer Nelson Jr. hit a go-ahead bucket in triple-overtime to help TCU defeat Baylor 105-102 in a thrilling matchup. Almost a year later, Brendan Wenzel drilled a three-pointer with five seconds remaining to lift the Horned Frogs over the 25th-ranked Bears. TCU has now won three consecutive road contests against Baylor.

The Horned Frogs and Bears went back and forth to begin the Sunday afternoon affair. Then, Baylor scored seven straight to take an early 12-6 advantage. Baylor’s six-point lead was quickly cut in half by a Wenzel three-pointer—his first of four in the contest. Baylor erased Wenzel’s three with a triple of their own before Ernest Udeh Jr. began to heat up, throwing down consecutive dunks via Vasean Allette’s assists.

The Bears relied on a bevy of three-pointers and trips to the free throw line to build a 10-point lead with less than a minute to go in the first stanza. Allette would cut Baylor’s lead to seven as the half expired, TCU’s largest halftime deficit since their January 6th affair against the Houston Cougars.

The Frogs came out strong on offense to begin the second half, scoring five points in less than two minutes of action. Despite the hot start, the Bears would answer, scoring six points in a similar timeframe. TCU began crawling back around 16-minute-mark, led by freshman guard Jace Posey. The 6-foot-5 swingman scored all eight of his points in the second half. Posey also brought down two rebounds and assisted one of Udeh’s five buckets on the night.

The Horned Frogs’ slowly chipped away at Baylor’s second-half advantage, cutting the once nine-point lead to two with less than nine minutes to go. A Wenzel triple and an Allette turnaround jumper would narrow the deficit to one. Then, Baylor star freshman VJ Edgecombe converted a layup to build a three-point lead with under six minutes to go.

The Frogs would hold the Bears scoreless for the next three minutes of action, going up by six in the meantime. TCU held the six-point margin for several minutes before a late TCU foul helped Edgecombe and the Bears cut TCU’s lead to three. The Bears jumped on a TCU turnover to tie the game with 25 seconds remaining. With one possession left, the Horned Frogs put the ball in Noah Reynolds hands. Reynolds drove left, then kicked out to an open Wenzel in the corner who splashed a three-pointer to put TCU ahead. The Bears had an opportunity to tie, but Udeh Jr. swatted Jayden Nunn’s game-tying attempt as the clock expired.

The two, late-game stars led the way in the scoring column for TCU. Wenzel scored a team-high 17 points off the bench while Udeh chipped in 16 points. The athletic big man recorded his fourth double-double of the season, bringing down 15 boards and swatting four shots. Allette and Reynolds scored 13 points apiece and combined to dish out eight assists. In his first start since Houston, Trazarien White added five points and four rebounds.

The Bears were led by Norchad Omier’s 20 points, followed by Edgecombe’s 18. Despite losing the turnover battle 17-5, the Horned Frogs dominated the glass. TCU out-rebounded Baylor 41-25. Aside from outmuscling the Bears, the Horned Frogs shot 50.9 percent from the field, 38.9 from downtown, and 76.5 from the charity stripe.

TCU will return to Fort Worth to battle the ninth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday, January 22 at 6:00 p.m. CT. The Jayhawks are 13-4 on the year and 4-2 in conference play. The last time the Horned Frogs defeated the Jayhawks in Fort Worth was in 2022—TCU’s third of four wins in the series.