Long Beach State transfer Gavin Sykes ignited the Horned Frogs’ foreign tour, dropping 40 points across two dominant victories to cement his status as a premier scoring threat.
TCU brought a substantially rebuilt roster to Costa Rica, and Gavin Sykes required very little time to distinguish himself from it.
The Long Beach State transfer scored 20 points in each of the Horned Frogs’ two exhibition victories over the University of Ottawa, leading TCU in both games and providing the clearest takeaway from its foreign tour.
It seems Jamie Dixon may have already found his next leading scorer.
Sykes opened the trip by making five 3-pointers during a 93-66 victory Saturday. He followed with three more while scoring another 20 points in TCU’s 99-70 win Sunday.
TCU did not provide complete box scores, leaving Sykes’ minutes, total shot attempts and other statistics unavailable.
But the information it did release was still eye-opening.
Sykes finished the weekend totaling 40 points and eight 3-pointers. No other Horned Frog led either game in scoring ... and he maintained his production after moving into the starting lineup for the second exhibition.
That consistency shouldn't be particularly surprising.
Sykes averaged 19.4 points across 28 appearances as a freshman at Long Beach State last season while shooting 38.7 percent from behind the arc. His scoring average ranked sixth nationally among freshmen.
He also broke Long Beach State freshman records previously held by Lucious Harris with 542 points in one season and a 39-point single-game performance.
Those accomplishments earned Sykes Big West Freshman of the Year honors, a second-team all-conference selection and recognition as a finalist for the Kyle Macy Award.
The competition will become considerably more difficult once TCU begins navigating the Big 12.
Two August exhibitions against the same Canadian opponent cannot determine whether Sykes will maintain his Long Beach State efficiency against larger and more athletic defenders. They also cannot establish how Dixon will distribute shots once the complete rotation takes shape.
But the Costa Rica trip did answer one relevant question:
Sykes’ scoring translated immediately.
TCU lost multiple backcourt contributors from a team that finished 23-11 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, including starting guard Jayden Pierre.
The Horned Frogs therefore needed more than another player capable of occupying those minutes — they needed someone prepared to create and convert shots.
Sykes arrived with evidence that he could handle that responsibility. His first two appearances in a TCU uniform supplied just a preliminary glimpse of what it might look like.
Forty points won't guarantee anything once the regular season begins ... though they did make Sykes considerably more difficult to treat as just another transfer.
TCU returned from Costa Rica with two victories, but more importantly, it may have returned with a new offensive centerpiece.
