TCU basketball saw its March Madness run end in the second round as Duke used a second-half surge to pull away and send the Horned Frogs home.
TCU basketball saw its March Madness run come to a stop Sunday, and for a brief stretch in the second half, it looked like the Horned Frogs might have one more upset punch left.
Instead, Duke reminded everyone why it entered the NCAA Tournament as a heavyweight, pulling away for an 81-58 win that ended TCU’s season in the Round of 32.
That’s the hard part of March. One strong push isn’t always enough.
TCU came out of halftime swinging. After trailing 38-34 at the break, the Horned Frogs forced a flurry of Duke mistakes and briefly grabbed a 40-38 lead behind Brock Harding’s playmaking and a paint finish from Micah Robinson. For a moment, the game tilted. TCU had energy, momentum, and a real chance to make the Blue Devils uncomfortable.
Then everything flipped. Duke answered with the kind of burst that changes tournament games in a hurry. Cameron Boozer and Patrick Ngongba II sparked the response, and the Blue Devils ripped off a run that turned a tight fight into a double-digit problem.
TCU struggled to generate clean offense during that stretch, and once Duke found its rhythm, the Horned Frogs were stuck trying to survive a wave they couldn’t slow down.
That was the story of the finish. Robinson and Harding helped TCU stay competitive early, but the Horned Frogs couldn’t match Duke’s depth, size, and shot-making over 40 minutes.
Isaiah Evans delivered a key scoring stretch, the Boozer twins settled in after a quiet opening half, and Duke’s physicality started to wear TCU down as the clock moved deeper into the second half.
It didn’t help that the game grew increasingly chippy, with technicals and flagrant calls adding more tension than momentum for the Frogs.
By the time Duke pushed the lead past 15, the path back was fading fast.
So TCU’s March Madness journey is over, and that’s the headline that stings most.
The Horned Frogs fought, had a moment, and made Duke work. But in the end, the season closed where so many do this time of year ... against a bigger, deeper team that found another gear when it mattered most.
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