Texas led by as many as 14 points but needed to hold off a TCU team that twice cut its second-half deficit to one point in a 72-60 win Wednesday night at Moody Center.

No. 10 Texas (16-1) improved to 3-1 in the Big 12. Thanks to No. 4 Baylor's 87-66 loss to Kansas on Wednesday, Iowa State and Kansas State are the only teams left without a conference loss. The Longhorns will play No. 12 Kansas State (16-1, 4-0) in Manhattan this weekend.

Here are three observations and a quote from Texas' win over TCU:

Once an area of concern, Texas finding success with free throws

The math is simple. Texas won by 12 points. The Longhorns scored 24 points at the free-throw line.

Six Longhorns combined to make 24 of the 32 free throws attempted. Texas made all six of its free throws in the final two minutes. It's worth noting that the team's best free-throw shooter — senior guard Shaylee Gonzales — did not get to the charity stripe.

Texas entered the game with a 68.5% success rate on free throws. That ranked 220th nationally. But in the two games that preceded Wednesday, Texas was 17-for-20 and 17-for-19 on free throws. Texas won both of those games as well.

"Now we're just going up and we're just focusing better," said freshman guard Madison Booker, who has made 27 of her 30 free throws over the past four games. "First, it was just all mental. We were tired ... and we were just missing free throws back-to-back-to-back. Now we've learned from that, and we're hitting our free throws at a higher percentage."

TCU turnovers were another key for Texas triumph

Texas forced 23 turnovers. Although they resulted in only 16 points, they did limit scoring chances for the Horned Frogs.

Eleven of those turnovers were charged to TCU point guard Jaden Owens, who had four points and five assists before she fouled out with 1:06 left. She's a fifth-year transfer who spent the past three years at Baylor. In her last appearance at Moody Center, Owens had seven assists and three turnovers in the Bears' 63-54 win over UT.

"First of all, Texas is a heck of a defensive ballclub. They do a really good job," TCU coach Mark Campbell said. "Without (injured center Sedona Prince), we're asking Jaden to carry a heavy load and be a really dynamic playmaker for us, and gosh dang it, she's giving us everything she's got. Sometimes she tries too hard, but it's with the right intentions, and so I'm willing to live with some of those mistakes because we're trying to figure things out right now and she competed. She didn't have one of her best games, but I'm proud of her."

Texas coach Vic Schaefer applauded Longhorns guard Shay Holle for the job she did as Owens' primary defender. Schaefer also noted that Gonzales defended TCU leading scorer Madison Conner, who was held to 14 points on 5-for-19 shooting.

Why aren't UT's backup guards playing more?

Throughout last season, point guard Rori Harmon's playing time became a storyline. She ranked sixth in the Big 12 in minutes played. With Harmon out for the rest of this season with a knee injury, those questions have shifted to UT's other guards.

During the first three conference games, Gonzales played all 120 minutes. Holle sat for a total of three. Over the first 13 games, Gonzales and Holle were playing 22.7 and 23.4 minutes per contest.

Earlier in the week, Schaefer was asked why he was leaning so much on Gonzales and Holle and not giving sophomore Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda, redshirt freshman Jordana Codio or freshman Gisella Maul more run. None of them had played more than eight minutes in any of those three conference contests, and two of those games featured DNPs for two of the reserves.

Was that distribution of playing time because the younger guards hadn't shown Schaefer enough in practice? Or was he just more comfortable with his veterans?

Said Schaefer: "That's one of those things as a coach, you tell somebody if you want more playing time, dominate in practice. That's one thing. Another coach might say, 'Hey, make me play you.' That's where I'm at. All those kids are young, even Ndjakalenga in her sophomore year, they're still very young and still learning the game. There's just no substitution for hard work and working on the things that you're uncomfortable with. But as we know, kids want to come in the gym and work on things that are easy, that are comfortable; they don't want to be put in a position to fail, which sometimes they come from an environment like that. When you play for me, I'm going to make you uncomfortable. We're going to put you in positions of failure because that's how you grow and get better. We're not afraid of that because that's what's going to allow you to really become great both on and off the floor. I think any coach, if you see someone do things well in practice, then you develop confidence.

"I told those three (ahead of the Texas Tech game on Jan. 3) we have open competition now for the first guard off the bench. What you do in the next two days will determine who my first guard off the bench is in Lubbock, and it was Gisella because of what she had done those two days prior. We had open practice again yesterday and tryouts for those three again, and it'll be the same today. You just want those kids to continue to get better and continue to work hard because that's the only way you're going get better is just working. God does for those that do for themselves. You sit around and wallow in pity, you sit around and just play the victim, it just doesn't work. Whether you're the coach or the player, that ain't it. That's not life. So you've got to get out and work."

Against TCU, Booker played all 40 minutes. Holle logged 39 minutes, and Gonzales sat for only the final 1:46 of the third quarter. Of those reserve guards, only Mwenentanda played on Wednesday night. She spelled Gonzales in the third quarter.

They said it: Schaefer praises Booker's humility

"That's who she is. That's why she's great. And that's why she's going to be an All-American multiple times, because she loves the game. She's coachable. She's not walking around thinking she's all that and a bag of beans. That's what it takes to be great," Schaefer said.

After leading all players with 21 points while also contributing seven rebounds and six assists, Booker said she couldn't "wait to go back to the film and just look at what I missed." That led to Schaefer praising the freshman for her humility and willingness to learn. Booker has taken over point guard duties since Harmon's injury last month.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Longhorns beat TCU Horned Frogs in midweek basketball game