NCAA Tournament: TCU Men's Basketball Draws Arizona State in First Round

No. 6 TCU will face No. 11 Arizona State in the NCAA Tournament's opening round on Friday. Both teams finished fifth in their respective conferences.

TCU men’s basketball will start dancing in the NCAA Tournament against Arizona State on Friday.

The No. 6-seed Horned Frogs (21-12 overall, 9-9 Big 12) made the tournament for a second-straight season, a first since the 1951-52 and 1952-53 seasons, and 10th time overall in program history. Head coach Jamie Dixon has led TCU to the tournament three times since taking over in 2016. Dixon is 13-13 overall in the tournament and 9-4 in first round games.

No. 11-seed Arizona State beat Nevada 98-73 in a First Four game to reach the tournament's first round. The Sun Devils (23-12, 11-9 Pac-12) scored a season-high 53 points in the first half and set a First Four game record for total points scored.

The Sun Devils also shot 64% from the floor, including 11-of-21 from the three-point range, which is their best overall shooting performance under seventh-year head coach Bobby Hurley. For the season, Arizona State hit 41.9% from the field and 31.9% from three.

Guard DJ Horne led all scorers with 20 points versus Nevada. Arizona State had four more players hit the double-digit scoring mark, including brothers Desmond and Devan Cambridge (17 and 15 respectively), forward/guard Jamiya Neal (16), and guard Luther Muhammad (12).

Horne and the Cambridge brothers average at least 10 points per game, while forward Warren Washington grabs a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game. Washington also blocks nearly two shots per game.

During the regular season, Arizona State grabbed a marquee win against then-No. 8 Arizona, 89-88, in late February. A 53% shooting clip, featuring 11 made three-pointers, helped the Sun Devils sneak out the win.

Arizona (2 seed), UCLA (2 seed) and USC (10 seed) also made the NCAA Tournament from the Pacific-12 Conference.

TCU is coming off a Big 12 Conference tournament semifinal loss to Texas. Guard Mike Miles Jr. earned all-tournament honors after scoring 37 points on 12-of-26 (46%) shooting, dishing out six assists, and grabbing two steals over two games.

Miles shot the ball particularly well in the quarterfinal win over Kansas State. He scored 22 points while making a season-high 4-of-7 three pointers and hit 6-of-8 attempts from the free throw line.

Guard Chuck O’Bannon also performed well in Kansas City. He scored a season-high 22 points against Kansas State and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Forward Xavier Cork snagged seven rebounds in that game.

The Horned Frogs never got the nation’s best fast break offense rolling in either conference tournament game, scoring just nine total points.

Like Arizona State, TCU has caught fire from behind the three-point line recently. The Horned Frogs made 43% (19-of-44) during the Big 12 tournament, compared with 29.5% during the season.

Good shot selection will be a key against an Arizona State team allowing 39.8% shooting from the field. That mark ranks 14th nationally.

Both TCU and Arizona State average over 11 offensive rebounds and nearly 36 total rebounds per game. Cork and TCU’s leading rebounder forward Emanuel Miller must fend off Washington and Devan Cambridge for those opportunities at extra possessions.

Arizona State will likely struggle replicating its record-setting offensive performance. Still, the Sun Devils have proven they can score at a high clip from almost anywhere on the court. Forcing turnovers and limiting second-shot attempts, while capitalizing on those mistakes at the other end of the court, should quiet down Arizona State’s offensive attack and help TCU advance to the Round of 32.

Game time is set for 9:05pm CT at Ball Arena in Denver. The game will be televised on truTV. 

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