Opportunity awaits TCU when it hosts No. 5 Iowa State in a Big 12 Conference contest on Tuesday at Fort Worth, Texas.
TCU (14-9, 4-6 Big 12) picked up an 84-82 home win over Kansas State on Saturday behind a career-high 26 points from Xavier Edmonds. The Horned Frogs overcame a five-point deficit in the final minute. The junior made 9 of 10 field-goal attempts, shot 7 of 10 from the free throw line and pulled down 10 rebounds. He has posted a double-double in five straight games.
Without a weekday game last week, the Horned Frogs picked up some rest and had enough in the tank to rally from an 18-point deficit for the victory. But the wait was long after consecutive defeats.
“That was terrible, Micah (Robinson) and I talked about that,” Edmonds said about the weekday bye. “We said we have a long week of break. We have to make sure we take care of business and feel good going into the break, or it would feel like a month off. It felt like it was about two months.”
Iowa State (21-1, 8-2) built a sizable second-half lead and shook off determined Baylor 72-69 on Saturday. The Cyclones struggled to close the door on the Bears, who ripped off the final 11 points of the game before time expired.
Cyclones guard Tamin Lipsey had his usual stat-sheet stuffing performance. He scored 14 points, pulled down nine rebounds, handed out three assists and had two steals. Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger noted that the veteran point guard sets a high standard for the entire team.
When Lipsey turned up his defensive effort on the perimeter in the second half, Baylor went from shooting 42.9% from 3-point range to just 29.4% after the break.
“Tamin just lays it on the line,” Otzelberger said. “It felt like there were two of him out there on some possessions against Baylor. The plays that he is making, the steals that he is getting, the rebounds he is chasing down … there’s a physicality about how he does everything. He lays it all on the line and he’s done that for the program for four years. His 33 minutes (against Baylor) might be like 50 minutes for someone else because of how hard he plays.”
Because they have a resume littered with dubious losses, most recently an 87-61 blowout loss at Colorado on Feb. 1, TCU coach Jamie Dixon said the Horned Frogs have to make the most of their chance to pick off a top-ranked opponent when they face the Cyclones.
The Horned Frogs are No. 53 in the NCAA NET and 3-6 in Quad 1 games.
“We have to get ready for Iowa State,” Dixon said. “We know we are on the bubble. A loss against Kansas State would have killed us. We are still there. We have to do some things to get better, play better and I know we can.”
