TCU cooks up second-half KC masterpiece, knocks Texas basketball out of Big 12 Tournament

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Postgame press conferences at the Big 12 Tournament have a traditional format. The coach gives an opening statement, then reporters direct questions to the players.

It’s possible Texas coach Chris Beard was too angry to speak Thursday after witnessing the Longhorns' epic quarterfinal collapse against TCU.

“Yeah, we’ll just start with the players,” Beard said with a growl. “Anybody got a question for the players?”

Timmy Allen and Marcus Carr didn’t have many answers after No. 22 Texas blew a 20-point lead and lost 65-60 at T-Mobile Center. All they knew for sure was that the Longhorns (21-11) were sent packing just as the Big 12 Tournament was getting started.

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“We knew it was a two-half game and we just had to keep playing the right way,” Allen said. “And we did not do that.”

Carr let out a sigh and said, “This isn’t our first loss. Hoping it’s our last one. Just watch the film, learn from what we did. Get better from it.”

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No. 5 seed TCU (20-11) gets to stay another day and faces No. 1 seed Kansas (26-6) in Friday’s semifinals.

For Texas, losing in the Big 12 quarterfinals won’t be a deal breaker as far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned. But the Horns, who have now lost three straight, might get knocked down a few seeds.

At least the Horns don’t have to hold their collective breath on Selection Sunday; they’re in the field of 68. The time, date, place and opponent are the only mysteries now. Beard may need a full week to cool down.

When it came winning time, the Longhorns simply didn’t make enough winning plays. The 20-point margin was UT’s biggest blown lead this season.

Asked what he saw in the second half compared to the first, Beard said, “Gritty competitiveness from our guys. Everybody wants to win. Guys that know how to win hate to lose. I hate to lose more than I like to win, and I’ve got some guys I’m trying to teach that to.”

He later added, “But when it gets down to winning time, four or five minutes left in the game, it’s tied up. I thought one team today hated to lose more. Our guys are out here trying to win the game, they don’t really understand how you get here.”

For all the hype Texas received in the preseason for Beard’s spectacular work in the transfer portal, nobody must’ve read the fine print. Most of the players he took in had either little or no experience or success in March. Christian Bishop is the only player on this roster who has been to the round of 16 in the NCAAs.

“I think we’ve got a bunch of guys that think they have the answers, but they really don’t,” Beard said.

Allen had 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals, and Courtney Ramey pumped in 15 points with nine boards. Those two came ready. But Carr was 3-for-13 shooting and Andrew Jones was 2-for-7. Together, they went 2-for-12 from 3-point range and grabbed one rebound total.

Texas shot 65.2% in the first half and closed the period with a 20-3 run. It was a rather stunning offensive display, really. At one point, four different Horns made four straight 3-pointers and Allen capped it off with a nice 15-footer.

The Horns had a 20-point lead with 45 seconds left before the break and went into the locker room up 40-22. This was against a team it had already beaten twice this season and seven straight times over the last few years.

“Being down 18 at half in Division I basketball is not easy to come back from, let alone do that in the Big 12,” TCU’s Emanuel Miller said. “I thought this team showed grit. I thought we fought together. I thought as a group, we showed what TCU basketball is about.”

In the second half, TCU’s standout 6-foot-11 freshman Eddie Lampkin “walled off,” to use coach Jamie Dixon’s term, Bishop down low. Lampkin made sure Bishop couldn’t get a clean layup attempt when it was obvious the Horns wanted him to get some easy buckets. Bishop was too far under the basket. TCU went the other way and started the second half with an 8-2 run.

“His hands are up like this,” Dixon said. “So we weren’t pushing, we were just walling up. But yeah, you must be with the other team.”

Said Beard: “I think first of all, he won his individual battle. He outplayed our guys. He was active, big, seemed to me like he didn’t want to lose today.”

Mike Miles Jr. hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, sank two free throws and buried another 3-pointer to get the Frogs within seven. Damion Baugh hit a 3-pointer, Lampkin got a dunk and then a layup with 1:25 remaining. Suddenly, TCU was up 60-59.

Bishop hit a free throw to tie things up, and Dixon wanted to talk about things during a timeout with 44 seconds left. Francisco Farabello triggered the inbound pass to Baugh, who had already beaten Allen to the spot. Baugh then drove and slipped it to Lampkin, who scored on Bishop to give TCU a 62-60 lead.

Carr missed his ensuing shot and, with Texas having to foul, could only watch as TCU closed it out. Lampkin finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and had three steals. Baugh had a game-high 17 points while Miles added 13, even on a slightly bum ankle.

This was the first time in school history TCU had beaten a ranked Texas team. The Frogs came into Thursday with an 0-11 mark in that situation.

“We weren’t turning them over, so we weren’t able to rebound and run and get out in transition and get easy baskets,” Carr said. “Further on into the half, we just didn’t do as good of a job of playing inside out and just getting good looks for each other.”

Beard just had the look of disgust.

“I don’t know if surprise is the word,” Beard said. “We feel like we’ve got a team that can play with anybody in the country. We’ve proven that. But we also have to face the reality that we’ve just got to learn how to win when it comes to winning time.”

Only thing Texas can do now is bottle that anger and unleash it next week in the NCAAs.

“You learn from it. You grow, reflect for a couple days and forget about it,” Allen said. “We’ve got another tournament here real quick, so we’ve got to get up for the next one.”

Contact Brian Davis by phone or text at 512-445-3957. Email bdavis@statesman.com or @BDavisAAS.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: TCU knocks Texas basketball out of Big 12 men's tournament