With 10 minutes remaining and his team down one, TCU guard Mike Miles took over the game in the Frogs’ matchup with Oral Roberts on Thursday night.
Following a jumper by forward Emanuel Miller, Miles drained a three. Then, he blew past his defender and soared in for a layup on the next time down the court.
Two minutes later, the sophomore would drain another three, prompting him to turn to the crowd, flex and let out a yell. He then split a double team and hit a tough floater, putting his hand down to sign that his defender was “too small.”
After starting 0-10, Miles had gone ballistic, hitting four-straight shots and finishing with 13 total points to tell the Golden Eagles, “Welcome to the Mike Miles show.”
“I like those situations,” Miles said of his run. “I knew I needed to help my team in whatever way I could, and at that point, I needed to score the ball. That’s what I was trying to do it. They trust me to make the right play.”
TCU took down 2021 NCAA Tournament hero Max Abmas and Oral Roberts 71-63 on Thursday night in Schollmaier Arena to earn their third-straight win.
Abmas, who entered ranked eighth in the nation with 22.3 points per game, led a Golden Eagle surge in the second half to help them take their lead prior to Miles’ takeover.
After scoring just five points on 2-for-8 shooting in the first half, Abmas hit a trio of three-pointers to lead Oral Roberts on a 19-6 run that had the away fans chanting, “O-R-U!”
The guard would finish with a game-high 20 points in the contest, with 18 of them coming on his six shots made from behind-the-arc.
“What makes him [Abmas] a threat: he can shoot from anywhere, literally anywhere,” guard Damion Baugh said. “I don’t know. He’s just tough.”
Though Abmas had gotten his fill of points in the game, Baugh, who guarded the Golden Eagles point guard for most of the night, won their final matchup by producing a steal with 18 seconds remaining to seal the win for TCU.
Baugh finished with a season-high 13 points to go with four rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block.
“It was very important, because we know how Max [Abmas] is and how he plays,” Baugh said of his on-ball defense in the game. “We saw a lot of film on him. That’s why it was important for me to just lock in and get the job done.”
From the get-go, TCU established that they would be in control for the majority of the first half. Two minutes into the game, the Frogs began a 24-8 run to blow open a 17-point lead with 8:31 remaining.
Thanks to 14 first half points from forward Francis Lacis, though, Oral Roberts stayed in the game, and TCU led by just 10 at the halftime break.
The Frogs had a run of four-straight makes near the beginning of the second half to preserve their lead, but then, Abmas went off, and the Golden Eagles crawled back into the game.
With 10:43 left to go in the game, Oral Roberts took their first lead of the game at 52-51, but Miles would take control from there and prevent the upset.
“Great energy, exciting game,” head coach Jamie Dixon said. “Obviously, you’re never going to put it away with them [Oral Roberts] with the way they play and the way they can score. That was a perfect example there.”
The Golden Eagles finished the game 14-for-31 from behind the arc.
Guard Micah Peavy finished with just six points, but he still made his presence known with a team-high eight rebounds and two blocks. Led by the Texas Tech transfer, TCU had outrebounded Oral Roberts 43-33 in the contest.
Up next, TCU will head to nearby Dickies Arena for a matchup with Utah. Tip-off is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.
