FORT WORTH, Texas — Short-handed TCU almost completed a season sweep of rival Baylor, but the Horned Frogs couldn’t close the deal in a 72-68 loss to the Bears on Saturday.
The odds were stacked against the Horned Frogs as Mike Miles Jr. (knee) and Eddie Lampkin Jr. (funeral) missed another game while Baylor came into Saturday winners of eight of its last nine games.
“We’re not going to sit here and make excuses, we should’ve got it done tonight without two starters, but we didn’t,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “We played hard enough to do it, I’m just disappointed. We’ve got to get it done without them.”
That didn’t matter at first as the Horned Frogs held a 56-46 lead in front of a packed Schollmaier Arena crowd with just 9:13 remaining in the game.
The Bears clawed back, outscoring the Horned Frogs 26-12 the rest of the way.
Baylor used a 9-0 run to make it 56-55 with 5:14 to play as a loose ball scramble resulted in an open 3-pointer by Adam Flagler. Flagler would later give Baylor a 61-58 lead with with 3:57 remaining, it was the Bears' first lead since the four-minute mark in the first half.
“They got everything down the stretch,” Dixon said. “I thought we had some bad offensive possessions about the six and five minute mark. One in transition, one in the half court, but they made the plays.”
TCU briefly retook the lead, but down the stretch Flagler was too good as he hit a running floater to give Baylor a 66-62 lead with 1:54 remaining in the game. Baylor’s lead would get up to 68-62 with just over a minute to play. Though it appeared the game was virtually over, TCU used one last desperation run to cut the lead to 70-68 with 10.7 seconds remaining.
Damion Baugh forced a Baylor turnover with just over 8.1 seconds on the clock, but TCU settled for a contested long-range jumper that was no good.
“It’s not the shot I wanted,” Baugh said. “I wanted to drive it all the way to the lane, but he cut me off and bumped me. I thought it was going to get called, but it didn’t. I know I’ve got to take a better shot and get downhill.”
Flagler was sensational with 28 points. Baugh led TCU with 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.
Clash of styles
The top-20 teams used different approaches to make Saturday’s matchup a thriller. While Baylor was letting it fly from 3-point range, the Horned Frogs relied on a gritty defensive approach to hang with the Bears. Micah Peavy was one of the catalysts for TCU defensively as he hounded projected first round pick Keyonte George all afternoon.
LJ Cryer picked up the slack for George as he started the game off by hitting six of his seven shots including four 3-pointers. While Baylor was draining 3-pointers, TCU was creating offense with its defense like when Baugh and Cork blocked back-to-back dunk attempts. Baugh finished the sequence by throwing a slick pass to Miller for a dunk to give TCU 36-31 lead at the start of the second half.
TCU’s defensive intensity didn’t waver, but it wasn’t enough to stop Baylor from getting hot from 3-point range. The Bears hit four of their nine 3-point attempts in the second half to overcome a 10-point deficit. Baylor finished with 10 3s while TCU only made two. Flagler and Cryer outshot TCU by themselves with a combined nine 3-pointers.
“They’re both tough shot makers,” Peavy said. “I feel like our defense was good, but like I said they’re just tough shot makers.”
Bounce back first half
Without Miles and Lampkin, the first half went about as well as TCU could’ve expected as the Horned Frogs managed to take a 34-31 halftime lead despite a slow start. TCU missed their first three shots while Baylor jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
The Bears took their biggest lead of the half, 19-13, with just under 10 minutes remaining before halftime, but that’s when things really began to click for TCU offensively. Trailing 24-19, TCU went on a 6-0 run to take its first lead of the game. Peavy started the run with an impressive layup inside and he finished it with a put-back dunk over a defender to make it 25-24 with 4:15 remaining in the half.
The teams would go back and forth until TCU temporarily took a 31-27 lead on a Coles post bucket. Baylor would tie the game on the next trip down as Cryer converted a four-point play after being fouled while making a 3-pointer. Coles gave TCU the lead back as he answered with a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer.
What’s next
TCU hopes to snap a three-game losing streak at No. 12 Iowa State at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The Cyclones beat the Horned Frogs, 69-67, on a buzzer beater on Jan. 7.
