After year off court, heralded transfer Chuck O’Bannon helps TCU coast in opener

Even McDonald’s All-Americans still get nervous. Especially when its been more than a year since they played in an NCAA basketball game.

That was the case for TCU junior Chuck O’Bannon Jr., who scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds in his Horned Frogs debut Wednesday night. TCU dominated Houston Baptist, 69-45, in front of an announced crowd of 1,672 at Schollmaier Arena.

The Frogs next play Tulsa at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo., in the first of two games at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will air on ESPN3.

“The entire first half I was shaking a little bit,” O’Bannon said of his first game back. “In the second half I started to get my groove a little bit and adjusted to the game speed so that helped out.”

O’Bannon last played in a game Nov. 12, 2019 for USC, where he was a five-star recruit out of noted powerhouse Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas, Nev. But O’Bannon never fit in with the Trojans and transferred to TCU in January.

He nearly matched his career totals (20 points, 14 rebounds in 18 games) at USC on Wednesday, when he became the first TCU player to score at least 11 points and collect nine rebounds in his debut in five years.

TCU was without point guard RJ Nembhard, who is in COVID-19 protocol, and forward Jaedon Ledee. Jamie Dixon characterized Nembhard as day-to-day and O’Bannon suggested his teammate may return Saturday.

The Frogs stifled the Huskies with defensive pressure from the jump and got off to a 15-0 lead and led 38-16 at the half as seven players had at least four points. TCU had 29-point leads several times and held Houston Baptist without a field goal for a seven-minute stretch in the second half.

Dixon was pleased with the effort on the defensive end. The Frogs scored 16 points off of turnovers and held Houston Baptist to two second-chance points.

“It was great. I love basketball. Just to come out here, and be with these teammates, it’s a fun group of guys,” O’Bannon said. “[Fort Worth] was a big change for me at the beginning. But I had a lot of time to adapt. I knew a few players on the team so it made it easier to adapt.”

Mike Miles led the Frogs in scoring with 13 points, and he also contributed five assists and three steals. Kevin Samuel led TCU with 10 rebounds and added three blocks.

“Kevin Samuel was tremendous,” Dixon said. “We need to get him the ball more. He was active. He was unselfish.”