Cal Basketball: Bears Face Formidable TCU in Semifinals of the Emerald Coast Classic

The teams will meet the day after Thanksgiving in a 6:30 p.m. matchup at Niceville Florida.

Cal will have its hands full in the semifinals of the 2022 Emerald Coast Classic on Friday, Nov. 25, against a TCU team projected to have a breakout season.

The Bears and Horned Frogs will tip off at 6:30 p.m. PT on the day after Thanksgiving. The game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.

Global Sports announced the tournament matchups on Tuesday, with Iowa and Clemson meeting in the other semifinal game at Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Florida.

Cal Athletics

All four schools will open the Emerald Coast Classic with an on-campus game. Cal faces Southern at Haas Pavilion on Nov. 18. The Jaguars were 17-14 last season and finished third in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They are 0-7 all-time vs. teams from the Pac-12 Conference.

TCU returns all five starters from a team that was 21-13 last season and took top-seeded Arizona to overtime before losing 85-81 in the second round of last season’s NCAA tournament. It was the first time in 35 seasons TCU advanced to the second round of the NCAAs.

Bracketologist Joe Lunardi projects TCU as a No. 4 seed for the 2023 NCAAs, and ESPN has the Horned Frogs ranks No. 15 in their way-too-early Top-25.

Here’s what ESPN wrote about TCU:

15. TCU Horned Frogs

We were all set to drop TCU into the 20s following Damion Baugh's announcement that he planned to pursue his professional options as opposed to returning for another season with the Horned Frogs. It left Jamie Dixon short on perimeter options, and would have been only the second key departure from last season's team. TCU even went out and landed Oklahoma State transfer Rondel Walker last weekend, which lent more credence to the idea that Baugh was moving on. And then Baugh had a change of heart, saying he was going back to TCU for another season. With Baugh back in the fold, Dixon now has all five starters back from last season -- and the addition of Walker and the return to health of Shahada Wells should give the Horned Frogs added options on the perimeter.

This is TCU’s projected starting lineup:

Projected starting lineup:

Junior G Mike Miles (15.4 PPG, 3.8 APG)
Senior G Damion Baugh (10.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 4.5 APG)
Senior F Chuck O’Bannon Jr. (9.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG)
Senior F Emanuel Miller (10.3 PPG, RPG)
Sophomore C Eddie Lampkin (6.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG)

Miles has posted 12 career games of at least 20 points and averaged 20.5 in two NCAA games last season. Baugh transferred to TCU from Memphis a year ago, and O’Bannon, who began his career at USC, is the son of former UCLA star Charles O’Bannon.

The website heatcheckcbb.com picks TCU to finish third in the Big 12 Conference:

3. TCU: The Horned Frogs are one of the coming season’s trendy breakout picks, and rightfully so. They nearly upset Arizona in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and return a major portion of that team, headlined by star point guard Mike Miles Jr. This veteran team should boast one of the nation’s toughest defenses again but its key to success will be cutting down on turnovers.

Cal is 2-0 all-time vs. TCU, although their most recent meeting was in 1999 at the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Iowa (26-10) is likely to be the favorite over Clemson (17-16) in the other semifinal. The Hawkeyes were 12-8 in the Big Ten last season and beat Purdue in the league tournament’s championship game, although they lost to 12th-seeded Richmond in their NCAA opener.

Lunardi projects Iowa as a No. 10 seed into the 2023 NCAAs despite the loss of star forward Keegan Murray (23.5 points, 8.7 rebounds), who is projected by NBAdraft.net to be the No. 5 pick in next month’s draft.

Clemson was home to Cal coach Mark Fox’s son, Parker, a walk-on with the Tigers. But he graduated in the spring.

Cal is hoping for a turnaround after its fifth straight losing season. The Bears finished 12-20 overall last season, 5-15 in Pac-12, and lost their top three scorers. Jordan Shepherd and Grant Anticevich completed their eligibility and Andre Kelly transferred to UC Santa Barbara.

Guard Jalen Celestine (7.5 points) is the team’s top returning scorer although the Bears will welcome four newcomers including transfer guards Devin Askew (Texas and Kentucky) and DeJuan Clayton (Hartford and Coppin State).

Cover photo of TCU center Eddie Lampkin courtesy of TCU Athletics

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo