FORT WORTH — Emanuel Miller’s contested layup with 6.7 seconds left in the game gave the TCU men’s basketball team its second straight win over a top 10 team as the Horned Frogs defeated No.2 Houston 68-67 on Saturday at Schollmaier Arena.
The Horned Frogs battled back from an early double-digit deficit to take the lead in the second half and got some crucial late defensive stops to keep their chances alive, ending the game with a steal from guard Micah Peavy.
“A great game, great atmosphere,” TCU head coach Jamie Dixon told the media postgame. “It’s great for the students. Our players deserve it. They deserve to play in a packed house. They’ve earned it, they play fun basketball, they’re good kids. … I’m proud of them.”
TCU forward Emanuel Miller opened the game with a three-pointer, but the Houston defense controlled the game and dictated the pace in the early going. The Cougars pestered the Horned Frogs’ halfcourt offense, forcing six early turnovers and building a double-digit lead as TCU went nearly 10 minutes without a basket.
With around seven minutes remaining in the first half, TCU turned to a full-court press, which immediately caused three Houston turnovers and led to a 9-0 TCU run to cut the deficit to three.
Houston continued its success while taking the ball inside, outscoring TCU 18-4 in the paint during the first half, and went into the break with a 31-29 lead.
TCU carried its momentum into the second half, making its first three shots and regaining the lead with a 7-2 run that culminated in an Avery Anderson three-pointer that caused the crowd to erupt and Houston to call an early timeout.
The Horned Frogs’ ability to get out in transition helped stretch the floor in the second half and opened up more quality scoring opportunities as they led by as many as seven. However, Houston clamped down on defense when it needed to most, generating an 8-0 run to go up 62-59 with just over four minutes remaining.
Free throw shooting ended up being key down the stretch. TCU got within one point several times over the last few minutes but missed some chances to tie at the foul line, and a miss on the front end of a one-and-one for Houston’s J’Wan Roberts gave TCU the opportunity to take the lead as the clock ticked down.
Jamal Shead made some crucial shots for the Cougars down the stretch, but they could not get the ball back to him in the closing seconds as Peavy took the ball away, and the crowd and students began to storm the court.
Miller led TCU with 13 points while guard Trevian Tennyson added 12, and Anderson had 11. Roberts led Houston with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
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WHAT TO KNOW
— TCU and Houston’s men’s basketball teams met as Big 12 Conference opponents for the first time on Saturday in Fort Worth and the first time since 2012.
— TCU beat the No.2-ranked Cougars 68-67 on an Emanuel Miller layup in the final seconds, defeating the No.2 in the country for the second straight season (TCU beat No.2 Kansas last January).
— TCU forward JaKobe Coles played for the first time since December 24 after missing the last three games with an injury. He scored three points and had an assist in 13 minutes.
— TCU has played three consecutive top-10 opponents and won its last two games (No.9 Oklahoma and No.2 Houston). The last time TCU played three successive top-10 teams was in 2022, when it also went 2-1 with a win over Texas Tech and a split series with Kansas.
— TCU is 9-0 at Schollmaier Arena this season.
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BY THE NUMBERS
— TCU shot 27% in the first half but only trailed by two at halftime. In contrast, the Horned Frogs shot 55.2% in the second half.
— TCU held Houston’s leading scorer, LJ Cryer (16.3 points per game), to just five points on 2/14 shooting on Saturday.
— Houston was 4/18 (22%) from three-point range.
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WHO SAID
— Miller on beating top 10 teams: “It’s all about building momentum. We come off a great win against Oklahoma and a lot of teams, you can either fall off or keep the momentum, and I think this team, we’re going to ride it. We’re going to keep on going.”
— Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson on his team’s shooting: “We had a couple of tough looks, but we also had a lot of wide-open looks we didn’t make. So, it’s not a difficult game. It’s a real simple game. We played good enough to win.”
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NEXT UP
— TCU (13-3, 2-1 in the Big 12) plays Cincinnati (12-3, 1-1) at 6 p.m. CT on Tuesday. Houston (14-2, 1-2) hosts Texas Tech (14-2, 3-0) at 8 p.m. CT on Wednesday.
