Miles returns with 18 for No. 24 TCU in 83-75 win over SMU
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Mike Miles Jr. returned to the TCU lineup with 18 points and the 24th-ranked Horned Frogs extended their winning streak to six games with an 83-75 victory over SMU on Saturday night.
Miles was one of five players scoring in double figures for the Horned Frogs (8-1). Eddie Lampkin Jr., Micah Peavey and Emanuel Miller each had 11 points, and Chuck O’Bannon Jr. had 10.
“It felt good getting back into the flow of things, being out there with my team, helping in any way I can,” Miles said.
Zach Nutall had 20 points for SMU (3-7), which lost its fourth consecutive game. Zhuric Phelps had 19 points, and Efe Odigie had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Miles, the preseason Big 12 player of the year missed Tuesday’s game because of illness. He put the Frogs ahead to stay with a jumper that made it 12-11 before Miller and O’Bannon added 3-pointers on consecutive shots.
Lampkin’s one-handed slam made it 22-13, coming after the 6-foot-11 center’s steal and getting ball back from Damion Baugh.
Miller (back issues) had also missed the win over Jackson State four days earlier. Baugh played only his third game since missing the first six because of an NCAA suspension.
When Miles was fouled on a drive with 5:43 left, he initially grabbed at his cramped lower leg and walked around after missing the first free throw attempt. He made the second before exiting with the Frogs up 70-55, and returned just more than a minute later.
Lampkin was holding his lower back when he got up after a collision in the lane when O’Bannon made a 3-pointer with 5:17 remaining to make it 73-55 — TCU’s largest lead before a late SMU push.
“We get big leads, but we always seem to lose them,” Baugh said. “Once they pressed, I feel we tried to slow it down a little bit, and we should have just kept going and being aggressive.”
OLD RIVALS
The game between the former Southwest Conference rivals was played at Dickies Arena near downtown Fort Worth, only about three miles from the TCU campus — and about 40 miles from SMU’s campus in Dallas.
TCU and SMU were in the SWC together from 1923 to 1996, when the conference disbanded. This was their first meeting in four years, and the 194th overall.
ON THE BOARDS
TCU was right on its season average with 39 rebounds, but got out-rebounded for the second straight game — their only games this season for that to happen. SMU had 41.
“We’ve got to do a better job of rebounding,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “That’s something that just keeps sticking out in my mind.”
BIG PICTURE
TCU: The Horned Frogs returned 10 scholarship players this season, including all of their starters from an NCAA Tournament team, but their rotation has fluctuated throughout the season because of illness, injury and Baugh’s suspension. They have three more games before opening Big 12 play Dec. 31.
SMU: With a much-changed roster this season for first-year coach Rob Lanier, the Mustangs have struggled to get going with any level of consistency. They had a 33-22 lead at home late in the first half against Arizona State in their last game but ended up losing 75-57.
“The question was how do we get these guys to take the energy that we started the last game with and extend that beyond the first half,” Lanier said. “I thought we did that for the most part and put ourselves in a position where it wasn’t about competitiveness, it was more about making basketball plays to position yourself to put enough game pressure and try to win the game.”
UP NEXT
TCU hosts Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 18
SMU has nearly two weeks before playing again, in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii vs. Iona on Dec. 22.
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