No. 17 TCU snaps No. 11 Kansas State’s 9-game winning streak

By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Eddie Lampkin Jr. slammed both of his hands on the court after a layup during TCU’s early go-ahead run, doing his best to work the home fans into more of a frenzy. All of his inside baskets helped, too.

Lampkin scored a season-high 17 points, including back-to-back layups on passes from Mike Miles Jr. in another big burst, and the 17th-ranked Horned Frogs beat No. 11 Kansas State 82-68 on Saturday to end the Wildcats’ nine-game winning streak.

“I’ve been telling them I’ve been open. Now they’re trusting me,” the 6-foot-11, 263-pound Lampkin said of his teammates. “They’re trusting me better, and my confidence is getting better every game.”

Emanuel Miller scored 23 points and Miles had 13 points with 11 assists for the Frogs (14-3, 3-2 Big 12), who were coming off back-to-back losses after an 11-game winning streak of their own. Damion Baugh added 11 points.

“I wasn’t making shots early, so you’ve got to do something else to affect the game,” said Miles, who entered as the Big 12’s second-leading scorer at 19.5 points a game.

Kansas State (15-2, 4-1) had gone from unranked to the verge of the top 10 after winning three consecutive games against Top 25 teams. The Wildcats beat Oklahoma State in their first home game as a ranked team in four years on Tuesday, then jumped out to a 11-6 lead in their first road game before Lampkin and TCU took over.

Keyontae Johnson had 18 for the Wildcats, who trailed by as many as 25 points midway through the second half before a late surge when Markquis Nowell scored 14 of his 16 points in the final 5 1/2 minutes. Nowell was coming four consecutive 20-point games.

“Panic about what?” first-year Wildcats coach Jerome Tang said, responding to a question postgame. “I don’t know our record, but I know we have two losses. There’s nothing to panic about. I’ve got a veteran group. I’ve got a bunch of winners in a locker room, both on the staff and on the team. And this is the Big 12.”

13-2 TIMES 2

Lampkin had back-to-back layups on passes from Miles during TCU’s second 13-2 run before halftime. He took an inbound pass from Miles, who then stole the ball from Nowell and was in the lane when he made a leaping no-look pass to Lampkin for another layup to make 32-21.

It was during their earlier 13-2 run, which took the Frogs from a five-point deficit to leading for good, when Lampkin followed his layup with his hand-banging on the floor. He finished 6-of-7 shooting with a dunk and five layups.

BIG PICTURE

Kansas State: The Wildcats shot 43.1% (28 of 65), but had 20 turnovers, including seven by Johnson and six by Nowell — both season highs. K-State was down 22 and Nowell had only two points before a 3-pointer with 5 1/2 minutes left that he followed with two quick layups.

TCU: The Frogs played their fourth consecutive Top 25 opponent, and split those games. The two losses were by a combined six points, 69-67 at home to Iowa State before they blew an 18-point lead in a 79-75 loss at No. 10 Texas.

FASTBREAK FROGS

TCU outscored the Wildcats 32-13 on fast-break points, some of that while turning K-State’s turnovers into 26 points.

“We really got to the aggressiveness and the team defense going and that’s where we got the turnovers and the transition once again,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “It’s kind of fun when you spend all summer working on something you want to get better and it comes to fruition.”

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Kansas State won’t move into the top 10 for the first time since March 2013, but the Wildcats will still be solidly ranked in the new poll Monday. The Frogs were unchanged after a loss last week, and may be that way again when they will be ranked for the seventh consecutive poll.

UP NEXT

Kansas State hosts second-ranked defending national champion Kansas on Tuesday night.

TCU is on road twice next week, at West Virginia on Wednesday before playing at Kansas on Saturday.

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