Define "player shortage".
When my daughter was in 7th grade, I coached a 7th & 8th grade girls basketball team. There were only 7 total girls on the team the entire season. In the first round of the conference tournament, my best player got concussed in the 2nd quarter and my second-best player sprained her ankle in the 3rd. At one point in the 4th quarter, we played 4 on 5 because I had no subs, one of my girls was hyperventilating and I was out of timeouts (because I burned them all trying to get the girls breathers). We did not forfeit the game, we played to the final buzzer.
I have a difficult time believing TCU's "shortage" comes close to what I experienced and we played on.