TCU pulls away to knock off Mississippi Valley State

Emanuel Miller and Jameer Nelson Jr. each scored 13 points as TCU emerged with an 86-52 victory over visiting Mississippi Valley State on Friday night at Fort Worth, Texas.

Micah Peavy and Avery Anderson III each scored 12 points for TCU (4-0), with Anderson coming off the Horned Frogs' bench to also contribute four steals. Nelson had five steals.

Rayquan Brown scored 17 points for Mississippi Valley State (0-4), who has opened the season with losses to LSU, Oklahoma, UConn and TCU.

TCU turned solid defense into productive offense, scoring 30 points off 21 turnovers in the victory. The Horned Frogs also recorded 44 fast-break points and shot 53.6 percent from the field. The Delta Devils shot 38.5 percent.

Mississippi Valley State got out to a 4-1 lead just over a minute into the game. Nelson Jr. tied it 6-6 for TCU on a pair of free throw with 16:38 left in the first half, and just over a minute later, Miller gave the Horned Frogs an 8-6 lead on a fast-break layup.

TCU struggled to take charge early, as Mississippi Valley State's Brown cut the lead to 20-18 on a 3-pointer with 7:37 remaining until halftime.

The Horned Frogs' response was a 14-0 scoring run, highlighted by Trevian Tennyson's 3-pointer off a fast-break, which was followed 26 seconds later by Anderson's layup, giving TCU a 34-18 advantage. TCU led 41-26 at the intermission.

The Horned Frogs stretched the advantage to 20 points with 14:01 left, as Anderson scored on a layup in transition. Anderson scored again, and followed that by stealing the ball from Brown, and getting it to Chuck O'Bannon, who finished with a dunk for a 55-31 lead. O'Bannon had 10 points.

A 7-0 scoring spurt, sparked by Peavy's 3-pointer with 10:29 remaining, widened TCU's lead to 66-35. With under two minutes left, Mississippi Valley State had an 8-0 run, with four of those points scored by Darius Clark.

—Field Level Media