FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU did not have long to sniff the aroma left from the egg they laid Tuesday against Texas.
That’s probably for the best.
The Horned Frogs had no choice but to quickly air out Schollmaier Arena against No. 19 LSU Saturday morning.
But against the nation’s top-rated defense, it wasn’t easy.
After building a 16-point lead early in the second half, the Frogs had to hold off a persistent LSU rally to hold on for a 77-68 win.
It’s TCU’s second win against a top-25 team in the past week. They pummeled Iowa State in Ames on Jan. 22, which only adds confusion to the manor in which they lost to the Longhorns.
“It was the worst game of the year, so whatever you want to call it,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said, trying to explain Tuesday’s aberration. “It’s hard to beat ranked teams all of the time, but we just didn’t play good the other day, but we responded.”
That meant riding the team hard with two tough practices, Dixon said.
“We called them out. We know why we got beat and beat badly. I don’t know why it happened, why we were in that position, but we weren’t the same team. And we had stretches of it in this game, too,” he said.
Against LSU, however, the Frogs withstood a second-half Tigers run.
After three consecutive 3-pointers from Charles O’Bannon stretched TCU’s lead to 50-34 early in the second half, LSU went on a 20-5 run to pull to within one.
The Frogs went nearly four minutes without scoring until Damion Baugh drove the lane for a dunk amid “L-S-U!” chants from Tigers fans. That stopped the slide for only seconds, however, as Brandon Murray hit a 3-pointer moments later on a quick down-court pass by Eric Gaines to cut TCU’s lead back to five.
“We needed to bounce back and that’s exactly what we did,” TCU guard Mike Miles said. “We didn’t want that to happen again, especially at home. We had that mindset coming in, and that’s why we won.”
It’s the Frogs' first win against a ranked Southeastern Conference team since 1954.
TCU resumes Big 12 play against Oklahoma at 8 p.m. Monday on ESPN2. It’s the beginning of a 12-game finish to the regular season that is rated the third-toughest remaining schedule in the country.
The Frogs (14-4, 3-3 in the Big 12) beat the Sooners (13-7, 3-7) in overtime in Fort Worth on Jan. 15.
O’Bannon scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half. He and Miles led TCU with 19 points each. Miles also had a team-high eight rebounds and six assists.
The Frogs shot 51.7% from the field but struggled (1 for 10) from the 3-point arc in the first half against the nation’s top-rated defense. TCU finished 49.1% from the field, and were 4 of 8 on 3s in the second half.
Dixon was appreciative of the student section’s response, especially in the wake of Tuesday’s disappointment.
“They came back, they gave us another shot and packed it,” he said. “So that was great to see. What a great atmosphere. And I thought we responded. Great win for us and great win for the Big 12. It’s been a dream of mine to have this place packed and excitement in Fort Worth. It’s great to see.”
But the Frogs were far from perfect Saturday, Dixon added, and cautioned that anything less than a stellar performance Monday would mean trouble. That’s what happened Tuesday against Texas. If a team is having an off night in the Big 12, they’re going to pay, Dixon said.
“You’re going to have them because you have to be at the top of your game or the team is going to take advantage of it in this league and we hopefully had our one,” he said.
