FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU responded in some ways against No. 2 Baylor.
Mike Miles, who was held scoreless against Kansas on Tuesday, connected on a 60-foot heave that gave TCU a halftime lead. Kevin Samuel, who didn’t have a rebound against KU, finished with a game-high 11 rebounds in helping TCU win the battle on the boards.
The Frogs also played solid perimeter defense against the Big 12’s best 3-point shooting team as the Bears finished well below their season average.
None of that mattered, though, on a day the Frogs had 22 turnovers. In the end, No. 2 Baylor was simply too much to handle in a 67-49 victory over TCU on Saturday afternoon at Schollmaier Arena.
“In the second half, they just took it to us on both the offensive and defensive end,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “I told our guys, we did it for 20 minutes against a really good team. They’re old, they’re experienced. They’ve got guys who have been through it.
“But 22 turnovers? Not much to say about that. You’re not going to win with that, and I take responsibility for that.”
Baylor (11-0, 4-0 Big 12) remains unbeaten and has won every game by double digits. TCU (9-4, 2-3), meanwhile, has lost two straight games to top-10 programs this week (Kansas and Baylor). The Frogs also snapped their streak of three straight wins over the Bears in Fort Worth.
The Bears were led by junior guard Jared Butler’s game-high 28 points. MaCio Teague finished with 12 points, while Davion Mitchell had 10 points.
Butler’s 28 points were a season-best and his most since dropping 30 points on Central Arkansas in last year’s season opener.
“We’ve seen him get better,” Dixon said. “The first year he didn’t play as much but still put up really good numbers. It was like, ‘Look out for this guy.’ Everybody thought he’d be in the draft last year, but he’s back and we got him going today. They did a great job of finding him, and he’s very patient. He took good shots. They found him on second-shot opportunities and just kept going at us.”
Miles led the Frogs with 17 points, including 15 in the first half. RJ Nembhard had 14 points. Samuel had six points to go along with the 11 rebounds.
Early on, it seemed within reason for TCU to stun Baylor once again.
TCU took a 28-27 lead into the locker room at halftime, courtesy of Miles’ 60-foot heave that connected at the buzzer. Miles launched his shot just in front of TCU’s bench and made it.
“I aimed for the backboard,” Miles said. “I’ve shot this shot a lot of times, so I was confident. I knew it was going to go in, and it went in.”
Miles recalled making a deep heave of that nature in a high school game, but not from 60-plus feet. That was the highlight of an otherwise defensive-minded opening half Saturday.
TCU didn’t carry that momentum into the second half. Baylor scored the first seven points of the half, taking a 34-28 lead and maintaining it the rest of the way.
TCU pulled within 45-42 on a 3-pointer by Nembhard with just over 10 minutes left in the game, but Baylor responded with an 8-0 run.
That stretch included a deep 3 by Butler and then a fast-break dunk by Teague.
TCU called a timeout after Teague’s dunk, but turned it over on the next possession. Baylor’s Mark Vital then made one of two free throws for the eighth point of the run. The Bears then pulled away for the 18-point victory.
TCU finished the game shooting 33.3% from the field and 31.6% from 3-point range. The 22 turnovers by the Frogs turned into 19 points for the Bears.
“We’ve got to get it fixed,” Dixon said of the turnovers. “Their pressure bothered us. Their ability to contain the dribble was a challenge for us. That was disappointing. There were way too many in the first half and way too many in the second half.”
TCU is set to travel to Oklahoma for its next game on Tuesday night. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. in Norman.
