No. 22 TCU Crushes Hawaii 126-84

February 13, 1998 / 12:31 AM EST / AP

No. 22 Texas Christian was looking for respect in a nationally televised game when they took the floor against Hawaii.

They got it.

"Our goal was to come in tonight and lay 100 points on them," said Lee Nailon, who had 46 points and 16 rebounds to lead TCU to a 126-84 victory over Hawaii Thursday night. "This was to prove that we could score on a quality team."

The Frogs (21-4, 9-0 Western Athletic) won their 10th consecutive game while scoring the most points ever given up by Hawaii (14-7, 3-6.)

The Texas Christian frontcourt shot 52 percent and outrebounded the Rainbows 52-34.

"I remembered from our last game how Hawaii played me," Nailon said. ``I knew that they would be physical, so I just tried to get inside and be physical against them. It seemed like as the game went on, things got a little easier."

Mike Jones had 22 points while Malcolm Johnson and Scott Gradney each had 14 for the Horned Frogs. Dennis Davis added ten points and grabbed 12 rebounds for TCU.

Alika Smith had 25 points, six rebounds and five assists for Hawaii, and Anthony Carter scored 21.

TCU took the lead at 11:22 mark in the first half and never were remotely threatened after that. The Horned Frogs led 57-44 at halftime and put up 69 points in the second half.

TCU coach Billy Tubbs said his team focused on Hawaii's big players.

"When their guards don't hit the 3, you can concentrate on the inside game a little more," Tubbs said. "We were able to take advantage of that."

Hawaii committed 19 turnovers under TCU's pressure defense, while the Frogs made a season-low seven.

"Our press seemed to get to them in the second half," Nailon said. "They started throwing the ball away and we got a lot of points on easy buckets."