O’Bannon shot caps No. 17 TCU comeback win at No. 19 Baylor

By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer

WACO, Texas (AP) — Mike Miles Jr. scored a career-high 33 points, then passed the ball to Chuck O’Bannon Jr. for the winning shot to complete No. 17 TCU’s big comeback against No. 19 Baylor.

O’Bannon connected from the left corner in front of the Horned Frogs bench with 4 seconds left for an 88-87 victory Wednesday night. TCU, after being down by as many as 17 points before halftime, extended its winning streak to 11 games.

“Everybody in the gym knew Mike was supposed to shoot the ball, but Baylor threw two guys at him,” said O’Bannon, who finished with six points. “He told me if they throw two at me, I’m throwing it to you. That’s just the chemistry we’ve built up over the years.”

Miles had hit a 3-pointer on the previous possession for the Frogs (13-1, 2-0 Big 12), who got the ball back with 10 seconds remaining after a missed 3-pointer by Baylor’s Jaylen Bridges that went out of bounds.

“I don’t know where to start as far as which guy made the most clutch play down the stretch,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said.

Freshman Keyonte George scored a season-high 27 points for the Bears, but his driving left-handed layup at the buzzer was blocked by Xavier Cork after they had used two timeouts to set up the final final play.

“We got a good look, I had it going all night, I got a look at the rim,” George said of the last shot. “You got to finish. That’s all I was thinking, I’ve got to finish.”

Damian Baugh and Eddie Lampkin both had 15 points for TCU, which has come back from double-digit deficits in each of its first two Big 12 games. Lampkin had five points, including a three-point play, in the final 1:45.

Adam Flagler and LJ Cryer had 13 points each for Baylor (10-4, 0-2), which had its 13-game home winning streak snapped. Josh Ojianwuna had 11 points and Langston Love finished with 10.

The Frogs went ahead 76-74 on Baugh’s open layup with 4:23 left, the only other time they led in the second half until their final shot.

Baylor led 48-31 after a 3 by Love with 3 minutes left in the first half before TCU went into the break on an 8-1 run. Miles then scored the Frogs’ first 13 points in the second half.

“I found it going in early and stayed aggressive,” Miles said. “Everybody told me to keep shooting, and I knew I had to shoot more if we wanted to get back in the game and win, that’s what we did.”

IN TRANSITION

The Frogs entered the game leading the nation with 21.7 fast-break points a game. They outscored Baylor 23-2 on the break.

“We knew they were good in transition, and our transition defense was atrocious,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said.

RARE AIR

In a series that dates to 1907, it was the first time both teams have been ranked when playing each other. Baylor listed this as the 191st meeting, and TCU’s notes said it was the 189th.

BIG PICTURE

TCU: The 11-game game winning streak for the Frogs is their longest since winning their first 12 games of the 2017-18 season.

Baylor: After opening Big 12 play with a 15-point loss at Iowa State, the Bears lost their conference home opener for only the third time in the past 16 seasons. … After shooting so well on 3-pointers before halftime, Baylor couldn’t make them after that — going from 9 of 13 before the break to 2 of 11 after that.

UP NEXT

TCU is at home against Iowa State (11-2, 2-0) on Saturday.

Baylor hosts Kansas State (13-1, 2-0) on Saturday. Kansas State has a seven-game winning streak for first-year coach Jerome Tang, who was on coach Scott Drew’s staff at Baylor the past 19 seasons.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll