Texas Christian @ Missouri preview
Mizzou Arena
Coming off a loss at Auburn on Tuesday, No. 12 Missouri will look to bounce back Saturday against TCU in the Big 12/SEC Challenge in Columbia, Mo.
Missouri (10-3, 4-3 SEC) lost to Auburn 88-82 despite getting a season-high 21 points from fifth-year senior Dru Smith.
Smith, who transferred to Missouri from Evansville after his sophomore season, also scored his 1,000th career point in the game. His performance helped Missouri take the lead after trailing by 14 points in the first half, but Auburn pulled away in the end.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak.
Missouri is 4-3 in its last seven games after starting the season with six straight wins.
"One positive is the way we were able to respond there in the end of the first half," Smith said. "It kind of changed the momentum. I think earlier in the season we played Tennessee, and we got down early and we weren't able to bounce back. We responded and even got the lead back."
Missouri's Jeremiah Tilmon achieved his fifth double-double in the last eight games with 21 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocks. Javon Pickett added 13 points off the bench on 6-of-10 shooting from the field.
TCU (9-6, 2-5 Big 12) lost at No. 15 Kansas 59-51 on Thursday, the Horned Frogs' fourth straight loss and their first game in 16 days after their previous three games were postponed due to COVID-19.
The Horned Frogs, who also welcomed back head coach Jamie Dixon, who tested positive for COVID-19, improved upon their 93-64 loss to Kansas at home on Jan. 5.
They held the Jayhawks to just 18 points in the first half, the fewest points by Kansas in a half since March 2002.
"Today was definitely a light for us," freshman guard Mike Miles said. "We felt we could have won that game. Our turnovers were too high, but it was definitely one we should have won."
TCU, which committed 22 turnovers, fell to 0-10 in Lawrence, Kan., but came away with some hope from Miles' performance.
He went from going 0 for 8 from the field and being scoreless in the first meeting with Kansas to leading all scorers with 18 points (6 of 12 from the field) in Thursday's rematch.
Post player Kevin Samuel, who had no rebounds in the first meeting, finished with a game-high eight boards.
"It was progress for us, especially on the defensive end and rebounding," Dixon said. "Given that we had one practice, I thought we fought. We competed. I thought we did some really good things execution-wise. We've got to finish better on some drives, got to make more free throws, but we played hard and we battled."
Chuck O'Bannon Jr., son and nephew of former UCLA stars Charles and Ed, respectively, is in his first full season with TCU after transferring from USC.
He scored seven points against Kansas on Thursday after notching a career-high 18 points in the first meeting with the Jayhawks.
--Field Level Media