Noah Reynolds leads TCU over BYU, another late-second Big 12 win

Noah Reynolds continued his scoring tear in Big 12 play as he helped lift to TCU to a crucial 71-67 win over BYU Saturday afternoon at Schollmaier Arena.

Both teams entered the contest 1-2 in league play and played with a sense of desperation.

With just 35 seconds remaining in the game, it was tied at 67. Just like he did against Kansas State, Reynolds stepped up with the game on the line as he drove to the lane and hit a runner off glass for the go-ahead bucket with 24 seconds remaining.

“We ran a play out of the timeout and got exactly what we wanted, it was good execution,” coach Jamie Dixon said of Reynold’s game-winner. “His play is what we’ve seen and what we expected, but the last four games he’s taken it to another level.”

The Horned Frogs got a stop on the other end and then freshman Micah Robinson iced the game with two free throws to keep the Horned Frogs undefeated at Schollmaier Arena this season.

Robinson came up big in his first start of the year with all 10 of his points coming in the second half, but the real hero was Reynolds. For the fourth straight game, Reynolds scored at least 18 points and over the last five games he’s averaging 19.2 points per game.

“I’ve just been focusing on being aggressive and making the right play everytime,” Reynolds said. “The offensive set up is pretty nice, the freedom is pretty nice. Having spacers like (Brendan) Wenzel, Micah and (Trazarien White) opens up the space for drivers like myself.”

He scored 21 against the Cougars and was at his best late in the game. TCU needed him to be after letting BYU seize control of the game in the first half.

The Horned Frogs were on the verge of running BYU out of the gym after using a 10-0 run to take a 33-23 lead with just 5:15 remaining in the first half. But BYU closed the half on a 14-1 run sparked by Cougars guard Ryan Saunders. Reynolds was productive in the first half with 10 points, but knew he needed to be more aggressive in the second to help the Horned Frogs battle back.

He showed off his versatile scoring ability by lifting TCU to a 49-48 lead with a signature runner in the lane and then he hit a 3 a few minutes later to increase the Horned Frogs’ advantage to 57-52 with 8:45 remaining.

It wasn’t enough to completely put away the Cougars as BYU responded with another 8-1 run to retake the lead, 60-58, with 5:55 remaining in the game. Reynolds help end the run as he had another tough bucket near the lane that forced a BYU timeout. After the bucket he began to lick his fingers, sensing that he had a favorable matchup.

“He did what he does,” BYU coach Kevin Young said. “You know he’s going left, he gets left and that’s what he does. He beat us a couple of times going to his right a couple of tough plays. I’m just impressed with his pace, he doesn’t really get sped up. We had two pretty good defenders that we were switching off on him.

“Richie (Saunders) was one and Mawot Mag being the other. Mag’s an all-league defensive player, so Noah did a good job there and you just got to give him credit.”

Reynolds scored or assisted on eight of TCU’s final 10 points as the Horned Frogs made just enough plays to survive another Big 12 thriller. Mag actually helped spark Reynolds’ late game heroics after Reynolds fell hitting a 3-pointer, Mag had some choice words for Reynolds while he was on the court.

“I got poked in the eye and felt a lot of pain at first,” Reynolds said. “No. 0 (Mag) called me soft and I had to get up and erupt the crowd a little bit there. There were a lot of physical moments in that game that helped boost my energy up that game. I’m a little proud of myself for how I battled through some physical adversity today.”

Before Dec. 22, Reynolds had just three games scoring in double figures as he dealt with an injury to his shooting hand. But now Reynolds looks like one of the best scoring guards in the Big 12 and if he’s able to keep up this scoring pace, then maybe TCU will have a chance to make some noise down the stretch.