"We didn't show up," sophomore Cory Higgins said. "We had no heart. We played like we didn't want to be here."
TCU made the hapless Buffs look bad with a 62-46 victory that was almost never in doubt. The Buffs were forced to play without point guard Nate Tomlinson, who has been playing hurt with an injured foot since the season opener when his foot was stepped on.
Tomlinson is scheduled to undergo and MRI today and if it confirms a suspected stress fracture, the freshman could miss six weeks.
The Buffs committed a season-worst 20 turnovers and and made just 29 percent of their shots (6-for-21) in the first half falling behind by a double-digit lead they never were able to overcome.
And things got interesting.
Coach Jeff Bzdelik, looking almost remorseful, sat at small table at his postgame press conference and said he should be fired for the way his team performed.
"To be quite frank, if I was Mike Bohn, I'd be searching for a new basketball coach because this was very unacceptable," Bzdelik said. "And that's not a statement of feeling sorry for myself or looking for sympathy. That's a statement of fact. This was not good."
The Buffs were out-rebounded 33-23, continuing a trend that has become a sore spot in this young season for a young team. Higgins was the only Buff to reach double figures, finishing the game with 16 points.
Three TCU players scored in double digits Zvonko Buljan and Keion Mitchem each had 15 points as the Horned Frogs made 46 percent of their shots, including six of 15 3-point attempts.
"I think the worst feeling for a coach is when your team doesn't play with emotion, doesn't play with discipline, doesn't play with passion and appears to just be disorganized," Bzdelik said. "That's on me. That's a rotten feeling.
"We had a great crowd, great student-body turnout. It's really a shame that we couldn't at least give a great effort, any kind of effort. So I'm embarrassed for the university."