No. 15 TCU will be undermanned when it travels north to meet Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon in a Big 12 Conference clash in Stillwater, Okla.
The teams begin the second half of the league schedule after huge wins this week. The Horned Frogs (17-5, 6-3) outlasted West Virginia 76-72 at home Tuesday and the Cowboys (13-9, 4-5) won 71-61 at rival Oklahoma on Wednesday.
TCU snapped back from a road loss in overtime to Mississippi State in the Big 12/SEC Challenge with its victory over the Mountaineers.
JaKobe Cole scored 17 points and Damion Baugh had a 16-point, 10-assist double-double to lead the Horned Frogs over the Mountaineers. Shahada Wells also had 16 points and Xavier Cork added 15 as TCU won for the third time in four games.
“It’s a very big win,” Coles said. “… We had to come into this game and dominate on the boards and dominate on defense. We worked all week on being tough, and I think we did that.”
TCU played without guard Mike Miles Jr. (knee), the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year. The Horned Frogs never missed a beat, taking charge midway through the first half on the way to a four-point lead at halftime. TCU pushed its lead to double digits over the first five minutes after the break and held on.
The length of Miles’ unavailability is yet to be determined. TCU has proven to be adaptable, having employed 10 different starting lineups in its first 10 games this season.
“No one has to do anything different. Some guys are going to play more minutes, but you don’t have to change your game overnight because guys are out,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “I’m proud of our guys. They responded in a great way.”
The Cowboys’ win Wednesday in Norman allowed them to sweep the Bedlam season series and collect their fourth win in five games.
Kalib Boone and Moussa Cisse each scored 18 points — both went 8 of 10 from the floor — as Oklahoma State ruled the lane and the boards, outscoring the Sooners 44-22 in the paint and earning a 13-2 edge on second-chance points.
Avery Anderson III added 12 points and Bryce Thompson finished with 11 in the victory, in which the Cowboys led by as many as 22 points and never trailed.
“I believe that we’re confident because we work really hard every single day,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said. “And because of that, when we go out there and play like a team like we did tonight and put it all together … we did a lot of things to give ourselves a chance.”
The win was the 100th of Boynton’s six-year coaching career and was his sixth over the Sooners in the past seven meetings.
“We’ve seen a lot of highs, we’ve seen a lot of lows,” Boone said of Boynton’s milestone. “This year, seeing him get this 100th game, it’s a blessing and it’s an honor. I’m happy for him. He puts in a lot of work. He probably is the hardest-working person I’ve ever met in my life, and he deserves it.”
–Field Level Media
