TCU upsets No. 11 UNLV 102-97 in overtime

FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU senior guard Hank Thorns sent a tweet a few hours before playing No. 11 UNLV about never experiencing the thrill of being surrounded by Horned Frogs fans on the court after a big victory.

He needed to do an update afterward.

Thorns scored eight of his career-high 32 points in overtime and the Frogs beat a ranked team for the first time in five years with a 102-97 victory Tuesday night over his hometown team.

When the game ended, the Las Vegas native jumped excitedly onto the scorer's table before joining the rest of his teammates being mobbed by TCU students in the middle of the floor. Thorns found his father and uncle in the crowd, then shed tears when he got in the locker room.

"I'm just overwhelmed,' Thorns said. "My dream came true. It was a dream for me to do this, to beat these guys. That's something I always wanted to do, it was my reason to come here to TCU, and we got them when they were No. 11 in the country."

TCU (15-10, 5-4 Mountain West) trailed by 18 points with about 15 minutes left and had cut that deficit by only three points 5 minutes later.

The Frogs hadn't led since the opening minutes of the game when Thorns started overtime with a layup to break the 85-all tie. And they didn't give the lead up from after that. Thorns made his eighth 3-pointer of the game with 1:21 left, dribbling in a circle around several defenders and then shooting over one to make it 96-91.

"It's hard to put it into perspective — down 18 points to the No. 11 team in the country. I told our kids before the game I felt like we had an opportunity," TCU coach Jim Christian said. "When we got down, in our huddles, I knew they were coming back, everything that was said. ... I just thought our kids were so resilient and play so hard."

UNLV (22-5, 6-3) had won 13 of 15, the losses by a combined four points. The Rebels were coming off a 65-63 win over No. 13 San Diego State to avenge a two-point road loss against the Aztecs last month.

TCU had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation after Oscar Bellfield had a turnover, but Thorns made one pass too many.

Kyan Anderson stole the ball and got it to Thorns, who was driving toward the basket. Instead of taking the shot, he dished it to J.R. Cadot, who made the layup — except the clock ran out before the ball got out of his hand.

Just four weeks ago against TCU in Las Vegas, the Runnin' Rebels opened the game with an 18-2 run. They led by at least 13 points the rest of the way and won 101-78.