KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mike Miles and Chuck O’Bannon scored 22 points apiece, and No. 22 TCU rode the hot shooting of its two guards to an 80-67 victory over No. 12 Kansas State on Thursday night to reach the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
JaKobe Coles added eight points and Emanuel Miller seven for the sixth-seeded Horned Frogs (21-11), who had been beaten by the Wildcats in four of the past five tournaments but will now play for a spot in the title game.
TCU will face seventh-ranked Texas, which routed Oklahoma State in its quarterfinal matchup, on Friday night.
Keyontae Johnson had 14 points and seven boards to lead the No. 3 seed Wildcats (23-9), though he fouled out with more than six minutes left in the game.
Desi Sills also had 14 points and Markquis Nowell finished with 11.
TCU played without center Eddie Lampkin Jr., who posted screenshots on social media a day earlier of text messages that appeared to accuse coach Jamie Dixon of player mistreatment and “racial comments.”
Dixon and the school have declined to comment on the posts other than to say Lampkin had stepped away from the team.
The Wildcats got off to the the hot start, buoyed by a partisan crowd that had traveled down Interstate 70 to make its voice heard inside T-Mobile Center.
But the Wildcats began to struggle with turnovers — 11 in the first half alone — and that allowed the Horned Frogs time enough to find their footing.
It was Miles who not only calmed them down but gave them a big offensive boost.
The all-conference guard hit two early 3s and had 12 first-half points, helping TCU take a 37-32 lead into the locker room.
Johnson, the Wildcats’ leading scorer, took an inadvertent elbow to his right eye and went to the locker room in the closing seconds of the first half.
The Florida transfer appeared to have sutures on his brow when he returned with the rest of the team for the start of the second, though they didn’t seem to bother him.
Good thing, too. Johnson’s 3-pointers were all that kept Kansas State in the game for a while.
Miles and O’Bannon simply wouldn’t miss, though. During one scorching stretch of five trips down the floor, Miles bookended a 3-pointer by O’Bannon with two 3s of his own, and after a miss by Micah Peavy, O’Bannon hit another 3 to give the Horned Frogs a 66-51 lead with just under 10 minutes left in the game.
The Horned Frogs were never threatened the rest of the way.
THE TAKEAWAY
TCU had huge advantages in turnovers and second-chance points, and along with 11-of-25 shooting from the arc, the Wildcats simply couldn’t keep up. It was reminiscent of the Horned Frogs’ 82-68 win over Kansas State in January.
Kansas State can rarely overcome an off night from Nowell, their do-everything guard.
But he was 1 of 9 on 3-pointers, including several wild shots from well beyond the arc, and had an uncharacteristic five turnovers.
UP NEXT
The Horned Frogs play the second-seeded Longhorns on Friday night for a spot in the title game.
The Wildcats head home to await their NCAA Tournament seed on Sunday.
