– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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FORT WORTH, TEXAS — A surprising defeat in the first week of the college basketball season saw the TCU men’s basketball team slip from the Top 25 rankings that they resided in to begin the season, and the team had to wait until it once again earned a place amongst college basketball’s elite. After doing just that over the next three weeks, the Horned Frogs then had to wait for their best player to come back from illness, and Mike Miles Jr. did just that in time for their rivalry game on Saturday evening.
Miles led five players in doubles in scoring as No. 24 TCU defeated SMU 83-75 in the Simmons Bank Showdown at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, located three miles north of TCU’s campus. The win marked the Horned Frogs’ sixth straight victory overall and their third consecutive series in the series against the Mustangs.
Miles, who was absent in the Horned Frogs’ shock home loss to Northwestern State on November 14, also missed this past Tuesday’s win against Jackson State due to illness. His first points of the game came on a jumper to give TCU the lead for good at 12-11, and that basket started a 12-3 run, which ended on an Eddie Lampkin Jr. slam dunk.
“It felt good getting back into the flow of things, being out there with my team, helping in any way I can,” said Miles, the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year.
TCU took a five point lead, 37-32, to halftime, and after an SMU free throw cut the lead to four, Miles hit an NBA-range three-pointer that started a 7-0 run ti push the Horned Frogs’ lead to 44-35. The lead grew to as much as 18 after a Charles O’Bannon Jr. three gave TCU a 73-55 lead with 5:19 remaining.
Lampkin Jr., Micah Peavy and Emanuel Miller each scored 11 points for the Horned Frogs while O’Bannon had 10.
Zach Nutall led the Mustangs with 20 points while Zhuric Phelps had 19 as SMU lost their fourth straight contest overall.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday evening’s game, with all photos taken by Dallas-area photographer Ross James. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 29 pictures in total.
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