WACO, Texas — Frustration is mounting for TCU basketball.
The Horned Frogs wasted a golden opportunity to make a March Madness statement and program history against a short-handed Baylor team on Saturday afternoon. Instead of capitalizing on the moment, TCU turned in another disappointing performance in a 72-62 loss to No. 7 Baylor at the Ferrell Center.
“It’s frustrating. I know how much potential as a team we have,” TCU junior forward Emanuel Miller said. “I know how much each individual cares about this program. We can go down the list, we can talk about the coaches, and we talk about the managers and the GAs. I know how much each individual cares about this program, so I’m really frustrated right now because it’s not showing on the court.”
TCU entered the game as a heavy underdog, but it looked like a much more winnable game by tip-off. Baylor was more depleted than most thought with just a six-man rotation.
Everybody knew the Bears lost junior forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua to a season-ending knee injury last week. But they were also without two of their three leading scorers with guards LJ Cryer (foot discomfort) and Adam Flagler (knee discomfort) being late scratches. Those three are averaging a combined 34.9 points per game.
The Bears didn’t appear to miss them against the Frogs, though, starting fast and finishing faster. Baylor (22-5, 10-4 Big 12) never trailed and never had a player get into foul trouble.
“Certainly we’re disappointed with how we played. We haven’t played well really the last three games,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “They’re playing six guys, so get somebody in foul trouble. Well, we clearly didn’t do that. They got to the line 29 times and we got to the line 11 times. Nothing we tried worked.
“We tried to press, tried to get them in foul trouble, couldn’t do it. That’s on me. I’ve got to get that message across and we’ve got to execute better.”
Baylor jumped out to an early 14-4 lead, taking advantage of a rash of early turnovers by TCU. The Bears weathered a couple of runs by the Frogs in the first half and took a 33-23 lead into the locker rooms. The Bears didn’t let up in the second half, leading by as many as 21 points at one point.
Baylor finished the day shooting 47% from the field and scoring 20 points off 15 turnovers by TCU. The Bears’ one-man bench, Jeremy Sochan, scored a game-high 17 points as they trailed the Frogs just 20-17 in bench points. As Dixon said, Baylor scored almost four times as many points from the free throw line (22 of 29) as TCU (6 of 11).
“Everybody really stepped up and we had a nice six-man rotation,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “The guys stayed out of foul trouble and really locked in on the defensive end.”
TCU (16-8, 5-7 Big 12), which has been projected by several experts as a team worthy of a NCAA Tournament bid, has now lost three straight and is playing its way onto the dreaded NCAA Tournament “bubble.” The Frogs dropped to 3-95 all time when playing ranked teams on the road. They’ve never defeated a top-10 team in a road environment and couldn’t have scripted a better opportunity than what was presented Saturday facing a depleted Bears roster.
But it wasn’t meant to be for TCU, which battled the same turnover and defensive issues once again. The Frogs also had a scare late in the first half when freshman center Eddie Lampkin went down with a right knee injury and had to be helped off. Lampkin played limited minutes in the second half.
“Eddie seems to be OK,” Dixon said. “He seems to feel like he’s OK, but we’ll see going forward here.”
Miller and sophomore guard Micah Peavy both finished with a team-high 16 points. The 16 points were a career-high for Peavy, who played his most minutes (27) in more than a month.
Peavy’s production is arguably the biggest positive from TCU’s end.
“I just feel like I’ve been letting my team down the whole year, just not being aggressive,” Peavy said. “So that’s just something I need to bring to the table.”
TCU won’t have much time to sulk in the loss. The Frogs return to action against West Virginia on Monday in Fort Worth. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Schollmaier Arena.
