Steven Johnson: TCU’s depth powered the Horned Frogs to the biggest win in program history

If I told you that Mike Miles Jr. and Emanuel Miller would combine for just 20 points at No. 2 Kansas, would you believe that TCU would win at Allen Fieldhouse?

Probably not, but it happened Saturday and the Horned Frogs didn’t just win for the first time at Kansas, they did it in commanding fashion, 83-60, despite their stars not playing their best.

Miller had a season-low five points. Miles was held to single digits until a six-point burst in a span of about 40 seconds with roughly six minutes remaining.

Against the defending national champions, it was the brilliance of the supporting cast that shined bright in one of the most difficult places to win in the sport.

“I’m really proud of our bench,” coach Jamie Dixon said after the historic win. “I’m really proud of Shahada (Wells) and Rondel (Walker).”

Wells led TCU with 17 points on a seven-of-eight shooting and sparked the early run in the first half to put TCU ahead by nearly 20 points. He checked into the game with the Horned Frogs leading 22-13, by the time he subbed out the score was 34-15 and he already had seven points in a three-minute burst.

His overall performance left his teammates in awe.

“Hada coming off the bench and leading us in scoring is a big thing,” Miles said. “He came into this game and gave us what we needed. This is the best game I’ve ever seen him play. I’m proud of him, he got his chance and he stepped up.”

Wells had the highlight of the game when he dunked on a much taller defender in transition. The 6-foot guard had an idea his chance for a poster dunk would come.

“It’s crazy because I was thinking about that all warmups,” Well said. “I was dunking all warmups, I was like if I get my chance- the first one I laid it up when I should’ve dunked it, but I knew the second one had to be a dunk.”

While Wells was putting on a show the rest of the bench was adding more subtle contributions. When Eddie Lampkin Jr. got banged up with a high ankle sprain, Xavier Cork came in and provided a boost in the front court.

Cork scored seven of his nine points in the second half. Cork made key baskets when Kansas was threatening to cut it to 10. JaKobe Coles had nine points in 13 minutes and was hot early in the first half.

“Those guys have been so good for us,” Dixon said. “Xavier is good, we know we can get more out of him and we needed it. We need both guys and we got great production out of both. I was really happy for Xavier, he’s a great a kid, one of the most unselfish guys you can ever have.”

In total the Horned Frogs finished with 39 points off the bench after the reserves scored just eight in the loss at West Virginia on Wednesday. Walker had four points, but the 6’5 guard also had two blocks and made a number of solid defensive plays.

It was a growing moment for a TCU squad that has relied a lot of Miles, Miller and Damion Baugh.

The Horned Frogs won’t need 40 points from their bench on a nightly basis, but the fact they could rise to the occasion on a stage like Allen Fieldhouse, should boost the confidence of the entire program including Dixon.

“We gave Hada a chance to get into a groove, I thought it was important with him and Rondel,” Dixon said. “We had to do it. We know Rondel is a good player, he’s done some good things for us. They would’ve helped us last game and I didn’t do a good job of getting them ready.”

Whatever he didn’t do against the Mountaineers, Dixon more than corrected that against Kansas for arguably the program’s biggest win ever.

The fact that the Horned Frogs blew out Kansas for their first win ever despite missing key contributor Micah Peavy and off nights by their stars, says a lot about what this team can do in March.

Speaking of Miles and Miller, even though they didn’t play their best, Kansas coach Bill Self still came away impressed with how they impacted the game despite combining for only 20 points.

“I think TCU’s got something pretty special going,” Self said. “When you look at the end of the game when Miles could’ve tried to dribble out the clock and get his own shot, he would throw it to the guy they felt had the best matchup and that guy would shoot.

“So I think it’s a little misleading because in a tight game I think those two can go out and get more. They just didn’t do it today because everybody was so good. They had one focus today, which was to win the game. Not win the game and me get mine.”

That’s high praise for a coach that’s won multiple national championships.

We know what Miles and Miller can do, but now we also know that TCU has a bench that can carry the load if either has a night off. And that’s before you get a defender like Peavy back on the floor.

I said it once and I’ll say it again.

TCU looks like a legitimate contender and as Self said, the Horned Frogs have something special brewing.