No. 18 TCU breaks past Central Arkansas for 9th win in row

TCU didn’t look like a team that hadn’t played in a week as the No. 18-ranked Frogs came out hot in their final tune-up before Big 12 play with a 103-57 men’s basketball victory over Central Arkansas on Wednesday at Schollmaier Arena.

“We are really feeling good about how we are playing right now,” said TCU guard Mike Miles, who scored a game-high 21 points, “We are ready to take care of business on Saturday.”

The Frogs (11-1) open Big 12 conference play at 11 a.m. Saturday hosting Texas Tech on ESPNU. TCU will enter the game on a nine-game winning streak.

TCU’s transition game was on fire Thursday as the Frogs reeled off 40 transition points to none for Central Arkansas (5-8) before a crowd of 5,367.

“Supposedly, we are No. 1 in the country in transition baskets,” TCU head coach Jamie Dixon said. “We have worked our transition game and emphasized it. I thought we could be a great running team.”

Central Arkansas, which trailed 49-25 at halftime, went on a 9-0 run in the second half to close to within 59-39 with 14-23 to play. During the run V.J. Reeves hit a pair of three-pointers and Masai Olowokere added another three-pointer.

But from that point, the Frogs put the game away outscoring the Bears, 44-18 down the stretch. TCU reached the 100-point plateau for the first since 2017 when the Frogs defeated Tennessee Tech, 100-63.

All season, Dixon has been touting the need to cut down on turnovers. The Frogs accomplished that against the Bears. TCU turned the ball over seven times while creating 18 turnovers. The Frogs also finished with 28 assists.

“I feel like offensively we are getting there,” Dixon said. “I liked how we played. We were unselfish tonight.”

Along with Miles, four other Frogs hit double-figure scoring. Emanuel Miller, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, finished with 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Damion Baugh scored 13 while Shahada Wells and JaKobe Coles each added 12 points off the bench.

“It was good to have this kind of a game heading into conference play,” Coles said.

Eddy Kayouloud led Central Arkansas in scoring with 14 points and Carl Daugherty Jr. finished with 10 points.