Texas Basketball: Freshman Will Baker Comes to Life with 20 Points in Win over TCU

The highly-touted recruit had scored only 16 points all season before this game

With Matt Coleman and Jericho Sims both out with injuries, Texas (15-11, 5-8) turned to true freshman Will Baker to provide a much-needed spark in a 70-56 victory over TCU (14-12, 5-8) at home on Wednesday. 

Baker scored 20 points, more than doubling his previous season total of 16. 

Fifteen of Baker's points were scored in the first half, but the Horned Frogs still managed to take a 38-36 lead into the locker room for halftime. 

It was a second-half Baker three-pointer with 15:55 to go in the game that made the score 46-44 and gave Texas the lead for good. 

Texas led by only four after a Kelvin Samuel layup made the score 57-53 with 2:34 to go, but a clutch three-pointer from Andrew Jones balooned the lead to seven and forced TCU to foul down the stretch. 

Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey both sent to the line in the final minute. Both players made the most of their opportunities allowing Texas to extend its lead to double digits. Ramey put an exclamation point on the victory with just two seconds on the clock, slamming home a breakaway dunk. 

It was a cathartic moment for a team that has struggled with four-straight losses over the past two weeks. 

Andrew Jones finished with 21 points including 3-for-5 from three-point range. Ramey had 15 and Kai Jones had 10 for Texas. The team shot 51 percent from the field, a drastic improvement from the sub-30-percent showing four days prior in Ames. 

Texas moves to sixth place in the Big 12 with the victory and now owns a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the Horned Frogs. The Longhorns will have another chance to build momentum on the road at Kansas State on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Wildcats are currently last in Big 12 play with a 2-10 conference record (9-16 overall).