How Chuck O’Bannon Jr. went from reserve to starter for TCU basketball this season
Most expected Chuck O’Bannon Jr. to have a limited role for TCU basketball this season.
During a preseason scrimmage against Mississippi State in mid-October, O’Bannon played 6 minutes, 31 seconds and scored three points. That’s about the amount of action he was projected to receive in a reserve role.
But things have changed. O’Bannon has steadily improved and played his way into the starting lineup the past five games. He delivered his most memorable moment to date in TCU’s overtime victory over Oklahoma on Saturday, draining the game-winning 3-pointer with 27.3 seconds left.
“I wasn’t expected to have a big role at the beginning of the season,” he said. “But I knew that if I just came out and competed every single day and played as hard as I could, my role would become a lot bigger. The season started off a little slow, a little shaky, but now I’m starting to get my groove.”
O’Bannon will look to stay in that groove as the Frogs (12-2, 2-1 Big 12) play two conference road games this week. TCU is at Oklahoma State (9-7, 2-3) on Wednesday night, and at No. 15 Iowa State (14-3, 2-3) on Saturday.
O’Bannon has scored in double figures five of the last six games, and ranks third on the team in scoring (9.8 points per game) and fourth in minutes played (22.5 minutes per game). He is finally looking like the player who earned a five-star rating coming out of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas five years ago.
“I feel like I’m on my way back,” said O’Bannon, who could have as many as two years of eligibility left with the NCAA granting a free season amid the pandemic.
“I don’t feel like I’m all the way there yet ‘cause I still have a ton of room to grow and develop, but I’m on the right path.”
O’Bannon was part of four high school championships at Bishop Gorman, starring in the title game as a senior in 2017 with 36 points and 11 rebounds. He was a McDonald’s All-American and seemed like a can’t-miss prospect when he headed to USC.
Along with his high school accolades, O’Bannon has basketball bloodlines. His father, Charles, started on UCLA’s 1995 national championship winning team and his uncle, Ed, was also a college basketball star at UCLA in the 1990s. Charles and Ed both played in the NBA.
O’Bannon seemed poised to follow in those footsteps, but his USC career was derailed by injuries. He played in just 18 games over three seasons with the Trojans. He played 14 games as a true freshman in 2017-18, averaging 1.3 points. A pinky injury limited him to just one game in the 2018-19 season and a left hand injury limited him to three games in 2019-20.
TCU provided a fresh start, but O’Bannon couldn’t work out when he joined in the spring 2020 semester due to the hand injury. Then TCU dealt with a number of COVID-related shutdowns during the 2020-21 season. O’Bannon played in 25 of the 26 games last season, averaging 6.8 points, but TCU coach Jamie Dixon views last season as a wash given the problems caused by the pandemic.
“He didn’t practice when he first got here in the spring because he was hurt and then we were shut down last season,” Dixon said. “But we’ve used Chuck as an example. Just do what you’re supposed to do and it’s going to hit. Some freshmen may get it and some guys may get it after three or four years.
“You have to go through it. You have to have failure. You have to realize what you have to get better at and that’s what he did from June to October. That’s when it really came, right near the beginning of the season. You’ve got to figure it out. You’re in the Big 12 and there’s going to be failures and setbacks and disappointments. He realized that and he worked at it.”
Dixon went on to praise O’Bannon for improving all areas of his game, ranging from the strides taken in transition to improving his defense. Most importantly, he is in the best shape of his career.
As Dixon put it, “That matters. You’re either in elite physical shape or you don’t care enough and you’re not in elite physical shape. Those are obvious factors.”
For O’Bannon, it’s about sustaining his play the rest of the way. He believes TCU has the ability to contend for a Big 12 championship and make some noise in March Madness.
“We have two big road games this week. We have to lock in and buy in,” he said. “As long as we come together and be the team that makes the least amount of mistakes, we should come out victorious.”
Briefly
▪ O’Bannon on playing in the Big 12 compared to the Pac-12: “There’s nothing like the Big 12. The Pac-12, there were four or five really good teams but the bottom two or three teams weren’t that good. In this conference, you have no idea how it’s going to go every night. Every team has the talent to win.”
▪ TCU is projected as an 11-seed in the NCAA Tournament, according to the latest “bracketology” released by CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm on Monday.
▪ TCU is off to a 12-2 start this season. The Frogs have already matched their win total from last season when they went 12-14.
▪ TCU entered the “receiving votes” category in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday. The Frogs received four votes. Baylor, which dropped from No. 1 to No. 5, is the Big 12’s highest-ranked team. Kansas (No. 7), Iowa State (No. 15), Texas Tech (No. 18) and Texas (No. 23) are the other league members ranked.
