South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Horned Frogs say Noi way
Forward outscores UF for most of 1st half to lead TCU
Los Angeles Chargers center Mike Pouncey, left, and Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey meet up after their teams’ game Dec. 2. The twins will be on the same side Sunday at the Pro Bowl in Orlando.
FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU never trailed after Kouat Noi scored the game’s first seven points.
When Florida got even in the second half after a horrendous start and bad shooting day, the Horned Frogs’ lanky forward put them ahead to stay. Noi finished with 22 points, outscoring the Gators all by himself for most of the first half, and TCU held on for a 55-50 victory in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday.
“Being able to win ugly has been something we struggled with in the past, so we’ve won a couple close games, which is huge for us and our program,” said Desmond Bane, whose 17 points included four free throws in the final 22 seconds.
The Frogs (15-4), who scored only 23 points with 12 turnovers after halftime, had their lowest-scoring victory in coach Jamie Dixon’s three seasons. It came three days after what had been the lowest this season, 65-61 over Texas.
“Yeah, it was only 55 of them, so pretty much all [points] were at good times,” Dixon said. “We didn’t have any to spare. We loaded up a bunch early, but it didn’t finish out that way.”
Florida (11-8) started the game with 1-of-15 shooting and trailed 18-3 more than midway through the first half.
“A lot of TCU [defense] and lack of poise by us, lack of execution,” UF coach Mike White said. “[We] played rattled really and dug ourselves a hole, then played more rattled and the hole got bigger. [It was a] very tough start, too hard to overcome on the road in the Big 12.” TCU forward Kouat Noi drives around Florida guard Noah Locke during the Horned Frogs’ win over the Gators on Saturday. Noi finished with 22 points.
KeVaughn Allen, coming off a game when he had eight 3-pointers, finished with 11 points for the Gators.
Florida tied the game for the first time at 34-34 on a
3-pointer by Andrew Nembhard, who then threw a bounce pass to Kavarrius Hayes for a layup and another tie at 36. But Florida then went almost five minutes before scoring again.
Noi made a tiebreaking layup and then a 3-pointer from the right corner at almost the exact spot his cousin, Lat Mayen, then hit another 3.
“The first couple points started the momentum for the whole team, and everyone was looking for each other,” Noi said. “I give credit to my teammates for finding me when I was open.”
Noi outscored the Gators until Jalen Hudson’s
3-pointer with 6:52 left in the first half got the Gators within 20-11. Noi had 11 points then, and Florida didn’t have more until its next basket more than three minutes later.