‘Everyone is starting fresh.’ TCU basketball eyes run at Big 12 tournament
TCU sophomore guard Mike Miles is happy to get a few days off after playing seven games in a two-week stretch.
“We needed it a lot,” Miles said. “Everyone was tired going into this last road trip. We obviously didn’t play our best.”
No, the Horned Frogs didn’t and closed the regular season with consecutive road losses at Kansas and West Virginia. Those are two arenas where TCU has never won.
But that lackluster finish hasn’t deterred TCU from believing it’s capable of making noise in the postseason. This is a team that held its own by going 3-4 over the seven-game stretch to all but secure a March Madness berth.
As coach Jamie Dixon said, it wasn’t against “Jackie Junior High” either. TCU had the toughest schedule in the country with five of the seven games being against ranked teams, including back-to-back games against No. 6 Kansas.
“I got texts from other teams that had to play three times in one week against Jackie Junior High and the rest,” Dixon said, smiling. “We didn’t complain. We went out and won big games, and we battled in every game that we had. I like what we’ve done. I like how they’ve responded. I’m certain we’ll be ready against a really good team.”
Next up is the Big 12 tournament where 5-seed TCU (19-11, 8-10 Big 12) will face 4-seed Texas on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 11:30 a.m. at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. The Frogs will travel to Kansas City on Tuesday afternoon and practice at the T-Mobile Center on Wednesday morning.
Texas swept the regular-season series against TCU. The Longhorns rolled to a 73-50 victory in Fort Worth on Jan. 25 as the Frogs fell flat a game after they made program history with the highest-ranked road victory at then-No. 15 Iowa State.
TCU then lost at Texas 75-66 on Feb. 23.
The common theme in both games was the Longhorns winning the rebounding battle. The Frogs are well aware of that statistic as they pride themselves on dominating the boards.
“Every game we’ve won this season is because we’ve outrebounded our opponent,” TCU junior forward Chuck O’Bannon, Jr. said. “We lost to Texas twice this season because they outrebounded us both times. We know if we want to win this game, it’s more than making shots. We need to rebound and defend at a high level.”
Texas has won the last seven meetings against TCU, and Longhorns coach Chris Beard is 9-2 all-time against Dixon.
This will be the second matchup in the Big 12 tournament between UT and TCU. The Frogs, in their inaugural season in the league, fell to the Longhorns 70-57 in the 2013 Big 12 tournament.
TCU is 5-9 all-time in the conference tournament, never advancing past the semifinals. But, as Miles said, this is a new season and the Frogs should be fresh for a potential run.
“We obviously didn’t end the conference how we wanted to but it’s a new season,” Miles said. “Everyone is 0-0. Everyone is starting fresh in this conference and we’re going into Kansas City trying to play our best basketball.
“(Texas) has beat us twice, but it’s hard to beat a team three times. But we know it’s hard to beat them once. We’re going to go in there and prepare to get the win.”
Miles will ‘take it’
Miles earned second-team All-Big 12 honors from the league’s coaches on Sunday. He felt he deserved first-team recognition, but he’s not complaining about it.
“Obviously I wanted to be first-team, but I’ll take it,” he said. “I think preseason they had me as honorable mention, so that’s a huge step up. I’m happy with it, being recognized as one of the best players in the hardest league. I was mad about it at first, but I’m happy.”
He said it
O’Bannon on the team not looking too far ahead to the NCAAs: “It’s one game at a time. It’s been like that the entire Big 12 conference. Every team, from 1-10, is a great team, so we have to take every game game-by-game.”
