TCU freshman provides future hope in loss to No. 13 Iowa State

When TCU freshman JD Miller saw he was in the starting lineup against No. 13 Iowa State, he knew it was his first start.

But he knew his job hadn’t changed.

“I just had to come out and do what I do,” he said.

Which is what?

“Score the ball.”

Miller certainly did that, scoring a team-high 19 points for the Horned Frogs in their 92-83 loss at Hilton Coliseum. But he also delivered 11 rebounds in picking up his first double-double, in his first start, at a ranked opponent.

The points were nice.

But TCU coach Trent Johnson saw more than that. He saw all-around performance as he has seen in practice, which earned Miller the start.

“He had 11 rebounds, so that means he was competing,” Johnson said. “And he had 19 points. But probably more importantly, he was two assists, one turnover, 7-for-12, 4-for-5 from the line. So I thought that was as good a game as he’s played all year long.”

Still, it wasn’t nearly enough for TCU (11-16, 2-12) against the Cyclones and Georges Niang (27 points), Abdel Nader (24 points) and Deonte Burton (23 points).

That trio alone had more than enough firepower to overwhelm the Horned Frogs, who put together their best offensive game since Jan. 4 when they lost to West Virginia in the second game of the conference schedule.

TCU forced a 24-24 tie in the first half when Malique Trent hit back-to-back 3-pointers. But the Horned Frogs couldn’t sustain the pace as Iowa State shot 65.4 percent in the second half.

Still, they made it a game, and that hasn’t always been the case, as Johnson has seen first-hand.

“Usually on the road, when we’ve been up against a team of this caliber and it’s been 20-8, we’ve sort of folded our tents,” he said. “But I thought the guys responded pretty well. Malique made some shots, made some plays, and we were able to get some stops. And I thought we rebounded the ball pretty well.”

But there weren’t enough stops against Niang, Nader and Burton. They went 28-for-41 for Iowa State.

“Georges can score. He can score on a lot of people,” Johnson said. “But our effort and our ability to follow the game plan offensively and defensively was good. We had two good practices. We played probably as good as we can play, with a couple of breakdowns. And that’s what happens when you play people who are pretty good.”

But the Frogs probably walked away with some confidence they didn’t have after the past two games when they were held under 50 points by West Virginia and Kansas State.

Miller, for sure. He’s got a double-double for evidence.

“I really didn’t know I had it, but it means a lot to me,” he said.

What could it lead to?

“We’ve just got to keep playing like this throughout the rest of the season,” he said. “Finish out strong.”

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 9:38 PM with the headline "TCU freshman provides future hope in loss to No. 13 Iowa State."