TCU basketball salvages March Madness resume-building victory over Oklahoma State
If TCU basketball had a short list for preferred free throw shooters in clutch moments, freshman center Eddie Lampkin wouldn’t be on it. Well, at least he wouldn’t have been going into Tuesday’s game against Oklahoma State.
After the game? Maybe.
Lampkin, a career 52.4% free throw shooter, made his free throws when it mattered most, knocking down two with 19 seconds left in helping lift TCU to a 77-73 victory over Oklahoma State at Schollmaier Arena.
“I wasn’t even worrying about it. I wasn’t even worrying,” Lampkin said, smiling. “I just had to step up. I’m built for this.”
That comment drew laughter from his teammates during the postgame news conference.
But Lampkin turned serious for a moment in mentioning the practice he puts in to prepare for those situations.
“I shoot the free throws at the end every time at practice,” he said.
That preparation paid off in a game that was slipping away from TCU. The Frogs led by 13 points, 69-56, with seven minutes left but found itself in a one-possession game following an 11-0 run by Oklahoma State.
Cowboys guard and Mansfield Timberview product Isaac Likekele scored seven points in that stretch to make it a game late, bringing back memories of TCU’s collapse in Stillwater last month. The Frogs blow a nine-point lead with three minutes left that night.
TCU was clinging to a 73-71 lead with 20 seconds left when Oklahoma State missed a free throw. Lampkin grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 19 seconds left. He knocked down his first free throw, courtesy of a favorable bounce, and then drained his second one.
Most of his teammates expressed confidence that Lampkin would deliver, although TCU guard Damion Baugh admitted: “I thought you were going to go 1-2.”
Oklahoma State answered with a quick layup, but Baugh sealed the victory with a full-court pass to Emanuel Miller for a dunk and four-point lead with 11 seconds left.
“We run that play every day in practice,” Baugh said. “The refs were taking too long, so I kind of made a little side gesture at Eman. Once I did it, Eman knew to go long. Touchdown.”
The pass earned approval by TCU football coach Sonny Dykes, who tweeted to Baugh after the game that he was “Air Raid certified.” Along with Dykes, another notable courtside fan Tuesday was baseball great Nolan Ryan.
They were among the 5,246 in attendance who witnessed a much-needed victory by TCU, which played its second straight game without leading scorer Mike Miles (wrist).
“We’re reinventing ourselves once again,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “But we did it and did what we wanted to do. We got the ball inside, that was our emphasis from the other day, and we guarded better early.
“I thought we faded at the end, but I don’t know if it was fatigue because we’re obviously playing guys way too many minutes but that’s the situation we’re put in. We fought through it and we had some great performances.”
TCU’s Chuck O’Bannon Jr. led the team with 19 points. Miller (16 points), Baugh (15 points) and Lampkin (10 points) also finished in double figures for the Frogs. Lampkin added a game-high 12 rebounds as TCU dominated the rebounding battle 37-24.
The Frogs (16-5, 5-4 Big 12) reached the midway point of Big 12 play with a winning record in league games. That sets them up well for a March Madness push down the stretch.
Oklahoma State, meanwhile, has lost five of its last six, and is now 0-5 in its last five trips to Fort Worth. The Cowboys (11-12, 4-7) were led by a couple of local products in Likekele (19 points) and Justin Northwest’s Avery Anderson III (14 points).
TCU travels to No. 9 Texas Tech on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. in Lubbock.
Miles attended TCU’s postgame news conference and said he expects to return for the Tech game.
“I’m going to be back hopefully Saturday,” Miles said. “But I just wanted to say that I’m really proud of them. They bounced back from last game. They were hearing everything about how they couldn’t win without me. I’m just proud of how they played tonight without me.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 8:19 PM.
