With a chance to add another quality win to its NCAA Tournament resume, TCU came out flat in an ugly defeat to Oklahoma in the final game of the regular season.
The Horned Frogs fell, 74-60, to the Sooners in a game that would’ve counted as a Quad 1 victory. It also impacts TCU’s spot in the Big 12 tournament as the Horned Frogs (20-11, 9-9) will now be the No. 6 seed instead of No. 5.
Oklahoma (15-16, 5-13) jumped out to a 17-2 lead in the first half and never looked back. The Sooners led TCU by as many as 24 points and had an answer for every run the Horned Frogs tried to make.
TCU had a chance to make one last push after a Mike Miles Jr. scored an incredibly difficult layup to make it 59-47 with 5:32 remaining. Oklahoma star Grant Sherfield put the game away with a basket inside and 3-pointer that forced a timeout by coach Jamie Dixon.
It’s a disappointing finish for TCU, who was coming off a win over No. 9 Texas, but now the focus turns to the conference tournament. The Horned Frogs will face Kansas State or Texas in the quarterfinals on Thursday in Kansas City.
Groves goes off
Without the services of Eddie Lampkin, who missed the game due to personal reasons, Oklahoma big man Tanner Groves had his way in the paint. Groves had 11 in the first half and was just as effective in the second. After TCU cut the deficit to 43-30, Groves converted a three-point play to jumpstart a 7-0 run.
When the Horned Frogs made another charge, it was Groves who cooled off the run as he converted another bucket inside after a timeout to make it 55-41. Groves was also dominant on the glass as he finished with a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Without Lampkin’s size, TCU had no answer for the senior center.
Backcourt not enough
Miles and Damion Baugh were the only productive TCU players for most of the game. Miles was hot early while Baugh started to find his success just before halftime. With the Horned Frogs trailing by 24 Baugh went on a personal 7-0 run to make it 36-19.
Miles was much more effective than in the last game against Texas as he shot above 50% most of the game. But there was only so much he could do to impact the flow of the game. He hit a nice pull-up jumper in the lane to stop a 7-0 Oklahoma run that built the lead out to 50-30 with 13:32 remaining.
Miles did what he could to make it close as he scored five straight points to make it a 12 point game, but his 17 points wasn’t enough to make up the difference. Baugh finished with 13 points.
Sluggish start
TCU couldn’t match Oklahoma’s initial surge in the first half as the Horned Frogs found themselves down 17 with just over six minutes remaining in the first half. The Sooners’ offense was firing on all cylinders early as Sherfield knocked down two 3-pointers including the one that put Oklahoma ahead 29-12.
Sherfield had just five points in the earlier loss to TCU on Jan. 24, but he quickly exceeded that with eight points in nine minutes. While Oklahoma was nailing 3s, TCU’s offense struggled outside of Miles. There was one sequence when the Horned Frogs missed three straight layups and Xavier Cork had a dunk blocked by Groves.
Miles was the only reason was able to hang around as he had eight of TCU’s first 12 points. He made three of his first six shots, but didn’t have much as help as the rest of the team was a mere 1 of 17. Oklahoma’s lead ballooned to 36-12 before the Sooners took a 38-21 lead into halftime.
