Mike Miles Jr. leads TCU to thrilling comeback win at Baylor

Winning on the road is hard, especially in the Big 12. Despite early adversity TCU extended its winning streak to 11 with a 88-87 win at Baylor on Thursday.

Although the Horned Frogs trailed by as many as 17 and were down by 10 at halftime, TCU coach Jamie Dixon said there was no panic.

“We went into halftime, we had confidence,” Dixon said. “Cutting it down was huge and I told them we were going to play much better and we certainly did. I think that was the key.”

It came down to the wire as TCU had a chance to win at the buzzer after getting a stop trailing 87-86. With 10. 1 seconds remaining, the Horned Frogs leaned on Mike Miles Jr. for a potential game-winner.

Instead of taking the shot, Miles found an open Chuck O’Bannon in the corner. O’Bannon pump faked to get a defender in the air and then made the corner jumper. With just 4.0 seconds remaining, TCU led 88-87.

Miles was cooking at that point, but opted to make the right play instead of playing hero ball. Trusting O’Bannon in that situation is a result of the chemistry the two had established over the years.

“Mike has been one of my closet partners on the team for the last three years now,” O’Bannon said. “We talked about it before going in. Everybody in the gym knew Mike was supposed to shoot it, but Baylor threw two guys at him. He told me if they throw two at me I’m throwing it to you. That’s just the chemistry me and Mike have built up over the years.”

Keyonte George’s shot at the buzzer didn’t find rim as Xavier Cork got just enough on the shot to pick up a block. His defensive play sealed the comeback win and added a Top 25 road win to TCU’s resume.

“I don’t know where to start in terms of who made the more clutch play,” Dixon said. “Xavier with the block, Chuck hitting the shot, Mike hitting the pass. We just battled through so many things.”

It was a second straight game that No. 17 TCU needed to overcome a big deficit against a Big 12 rival. The Horned Frogs battled back down double digits against Texas Tech on Saturday.

Thanks to the brilliance of Miles, the Horned Frogs were successful in climbing back and led by two with just over four minutes remaining after trailing all night.

With roughly 1:04 remaining Eddie Lampkin cut the deficit to 85-83 with a one-handed putback. On the next trip down Keyonte George hit two free throws after being fouled by Micah Peavy to make it a four point game.

Miles answered with a 3-pointer to cut it to 87-86 to set up the dramatic finish.

Miles finished with a career-high 33 points and hit three 3-pointers. He battled with Baylor’s Keyonte George, who finished with 27 points and hit key free throws down the stretch for the Bears.

“Just keep shooting the ball,” Miles said of his mentality. “I saw it going in early, so just stay aggressive. Everybody was telling me keep shooting, I knew I had to shoot more to get us back in the game.”

It was the first time TCU and Baylor both were ranked when facing each other, but that didn’t provide extra motivation. For many on the roster this was the first time defeating Baylor.

“Our incentive was we’ve never beat Baylor,” Miles said. “Since we’ve been here, we’ve never gotten a win. Obviously on the road, we knew it was going to be hard. But we all came in and said we had to get one, we can’t leave here without beating them. We all had the same mindset going. We got down big in the first half, but we stepped up in the second and got the win.”

Miles refuses to lose

In a game featuring some of the best guards in the Big 12, the Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year continued to show why he’s viewed as the best in the league. With TCU trailing by almost 20 points, Miles got to work to lead the Horned Frogs back in the second half.

Miles scored 10 straight points for TCU in a number of different ways. He nailed a 3-pointer, then hit two buckets in a row in transition to make it 57-50 with just over 15 minutes to play. Miles continued his heroics in transition as he seemingly defied gravity to make a contested reverse layup on a Baylor big man to inch TCU closer, 61-56 with just over 13 minutes to play.

Thanks to Miles and a defense that started to come alive after halftime, TCU only trailed 68-66 with just over seven minutes remaining. Miles hit another basket to tie it at 74 and then found a streaking Damion Baugh in transition to give TCU its first lead since early in the first half.

“Mike’s play was tremendous,” Dixon said. “His defense and shot selection were very good as well. His growth this year and his defense has been impressive and that’s what you hope to do. You saw it today.”

George matches hype

Baylor guard Keyonte George was one of the most highly recruited players in the Class of 2022 and the former top 10 recruit showed why against TCU. George was on fire early, hitting three straight 3-pointers. He made them off the bounce and in catch-and-shoot situations.

His third made tied it at nine early in the game. George drilled another midway through the half as step backed after a between the legs move to create separation before knocking down the jumper. George continued to slither his way through the TCU defense with a crafty eurostep layup that made it 27-21 with just over eight minutes remaining until halftime.

George had 16 points in the first half and missed just one of his six attempts to lead a scorching Bears offense. In the second half George wasn’t as hot but made one of the biggest plays of the game. George stole the ball away from Miles and finished in transition to give Baylor a 83-78 lead with just under two minutes remaining.

A half to forget

Among the pillars of TCU’s program is rebounding and keeping opponents off from the 3-point line. Against Baylor, the Horned Frogs failed to do both in the first half that saw them trail by as many as 17 points. While TCU made just one long distance basket, Baylor hit nine of its first 12.

A good chunk came as the result of offensive rebounds like Langston Love’s with just over two minutes to go. A long rebound landed in the hands of Caleb Lohner and eventually found an open Love in a corner for a 3 that made it 48-31. There was another sequence earlier in the half when Jalen Bridges hit his first shot of the half after a rebound from teammate Josh Ojianwuna.

TCU was outrebounded 19-10 and was a -24 from the 3-point line in the first half. Baylor shot well over 60% in the first to build a 49-39 halftime lead. TCU needed to hold Baylor without a field goal in the final three minutes to just to make deficit manageable.

“I would be lying if I said we weren’t calm,” Emanuel Miller said. “We’ve been in that situation so many times just like the last game against Texas Tech. Being down 17 every person on the bench, on the floor, everyone’s mind was calm and then we executed great.”