No. 22 TCU will attempt to halt its longest losing streak since March 2021 when it hosts Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Horned Frogs (17-9, 6-7 Big 12) head home after a 70-59 loss at No. 19 Iowa State on Wednesday. It was the fourth straight loss for TCU and its fifth in six games since Mike Miles Jr., the conference’s preseason player of the year, went down with a hyperextended right knee.
“We’re not playing as good as we’ve played,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “We’re searching. We haven’t gotten it done on the road against good teams.”
In the loss to the Cyclones, Shahada Wells led the Horned Frogs with 15 points and seven rebounds while Micah Peavy added 13 points. TCU never led in the game and was down 15-2 after six minutes. The Horned Frogs were doomed by their worst performance of the season from the free-throw line (6 of 18), and the bench contributed a total of just 12 points.
The Horned Frogs were within nine points with two minutes to play but committed turnovers on three of their final four possessions to short-circuit any chance of a comeback.
TCU’s starting lineup of Damion Baugh, Xavier Cork, Emanuel Miller, Peavy and Wells was its 14th different opening five of the season, the most among any team from a major conference. Miles is expected to return to the lineup for the Saturday game.
The Cowboys (16-10, 7-6) head to Fort Worth after an 87-76 home loss to No. 5 Kansas on Tuesday that snapped Oklahoma State’s five-game winning streak. Senior Kalib Boone scored a career-high 27 points to lead the Cowboys, with John-Michael Wright adding 18 and Bryce Thompson hitting for 17, 14 of them in the first half.
The Cowboys fell for just the second time in the past nine games.
Oklahoma State led by five points near the midpoint of the first half but let the advantage slip away prior to the break. Kansas then pushed its lead to eight points in the first two minutes of the second half and never let the Cowboys see the front again.
“I didn’t think as a team we necessarily met the moment collectively in a way that would give ourselves the best chance to win,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said. “Score 76 (points) — we got some good offensive production, but it wasn’t with the right kind of flow. A lot of times I feel like we got caught up trying to beat Kansas at their game.”
TCU and Oklahoma State met on Feb. 4, with the Cowboys winning 79-73 in Stillwater, Okla., behind 25 points from Boone.
Boynton said, “We’re going to go down to Fort Worth and play a game against a team that we played well against in our building and that’s just like us, fighting and clawing, trying to get in a better position in the conference heading into the last couple weeks of the season. That’s where our focus has to be.”
–Field Level Media
