KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ TCU's against-the-odds journey to secure an automatic berth in the NCAA men's basketball tournament came to a halt Friday night in the Sprint Center.
The Horned Frogs fell to No. 23 Iowa State 84-63 to end their hopes of securing a Big 12 tournament title. TCU (19-15), which began the event as the No. 8 seed, saw its two-game winning streak in Kansas City disappear despite the double-digit scoring efforts from forward Vladimir Brodziansky (10 points, two rebounds) and guard Jaylen Fisher (10 points, three assists).
The Frogs fell to ISU one day after recording an 85-82 upset of top-ranked Kansas to reach the tournament semifinals for the first time in school history. The upset of Kansas marked the first time in program history for TCU to defeat the nation's No. 1 team.
The winner of Saturday's Big 12 championship game will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Based on recent bracket projections, TCU's successful run in the Sprint Center is not expected to land the Frogs an at-large bid to March Madness. But TCU projects as a likely participant in the NIT, which will fill its 32-team field shortly after the 68-team NCAA bracket is announced Sunday.
Things began getting away from TCU from the outset Friday. Iowa State took the lead for good 11-10 on Deonte Burton's 3-pointer with 13:28 remaining in the first half. The basket was part of a game-turning, 10-0 run used by the Cyclones (22-10) to punch their ticket into Saturday's championship game against the winner of Friday's late game between No. 11 West Virginia and Kansas State.
TCU struggled to slow the Cyclones' guard-oriented offense, forcing only two first-half turnovers and watching ISU connect on 58.6 percent of its shots from the field while building a 44-27 halftime advantage.
TCU never got closer than 14 points during the second half while falling to Iowa State for the second time in three meetings this season. Burton led Iowa State with 22 points.
