FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — TCU coach Jamie Dixon still wants to figure out ways to get Desmond Bane more shots.
It’s easy to see why since the sophomore guard is making nearly 75 percent of them for the season.
Bane scored 18 points, Jaylen Fisher had 17 points and seven assists and No. 23 TCU won its nation-leading 13th straight game, beating Yale 92-66 on Saturday night.
A former Indiana high school standout, Bane actually saw his shooting percentage drop to 70 percent after going 5 of 9 overall. But he was right on his 3-point number — 62.5 percent (5 of 8).
“We ran more plays for him, I think,” Dixon said. “I’m trying to understand why we’re not getting more shots for him out of our motion and our transition. We do have a balance, but his numbers seem to stand out so you’ve got to get him a few more looks.”
Alex Robinson had 13 points, all before leaving the game briefly with an injury in the second half, as the Horned Frogs won consecutive games as a ranked team for the first time since January 1999. They were last in the Top 25 for one week almost three years ago.
Kenrich Williams had his fourth straight double-double and fifth of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds to help TCU start 8-0 for the second straight season. Williams had double-doubles in all five NIT games when the Frogs won that title last season.
Miye Oni led Yale (5-5) with 18 points, Alex Copeland scored 16 points and Paul Atkinson had 15 points and nine rebounds in the first meeting between the schools.
Yale’s Blake Reynolds, coming in on a season high-tying 18 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3, went scoreless while missing all eight from long range. The junior forward was 0 of 10 from the field with just one rebound.
“If he’s 5 for 10 and 4 for 8, we’ve got a different ballgame,” Yale coach James Jones said. “Those eight 3s he took, seven of them had to be wide open. You make shots, it’s a different story.”
The Horned Frogs had six players in double figures. Ahmed Hamby, an Egypt native and graduate transfer from VCU who played at a Texas junior college, had a season-high 12 points. JD Miller added 11.
Bane had two of his 3s two during a 13-3 run to finish the first half, helping the Frogs to a 45-31 lead. Fisher was 8 of 10 from the field as the Frogs shot 59 percent, their third straight game at better than 50 percent.
Robinson had five assists and Williams added four as the Horned Frogs finished with 22, two more than their fifth-best average in the nation coming into the game.
EFFICIENT GUARDS
Fisher and Robinson had just one turnover with 12 assists combined as TCU had a season low for the second straight game, finishing with nine turnovers. “I thought it would be better if I got with those two guys and tried to get with them and see what we really needed out of them,” Dixon said. “More penetration, passing. They both scored and I felt like they both did a better job of getting our guys shots.”
BIG GUY’S NIGHT OFF
TCU pushed its lead to 20 early in the second half and cruised despite a season-low five points from leading scorer Vladimir Brodziansky. The 6-foot-11 post player from Slovakia matched his season low with four shots.
THE TAKEAWAY
Yale: The Bulldogs had won four of five coming in but haven’t been able to stay close to teams with NCAA Tournament expectations. They have an average margin of defeat of 23 points in losses to Creighton, Wisconsin and TCU — all on the road.
TCU: The Frogs have struggled to put away overmatched teams several times this season. No such trouble against the Bulldogs, and now TCU could be closing in on its first top 20 ranking since March 1998.
UP NEXT:
Yale: The second of four straight on the road at Lehigh on Wednesday.
TCU: Home against Dallas-Fort Worth rival SMU on Tuesday. The Mustangs have won five straight in the series.
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