TCU Men's Basketball: Preview vs. #19 LSU
TCU (13-4, 3-3 Big 12) hosts No. 19 LSU (16-4, 4-4) in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Saturday at 11 a.m. on ESPN2. TCU is 4-4 all-time in the Big 12/SEC Challenge with wins over Florida, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
TCU’s last home game against an SEC team was a 55-50 win over Florida on Jan. 26, 2019, also at 11 a.m. on ESPN2. TCU is 1-1 against Top 25 teams this season. TCU has the third toughest remaining schedule nationally. Prior to the Texas game, TCU held its opponents to under 60 points for four-straight games for the first time since 2014-15. TCU has now received votes (six) in the AP Top 25 Poll on Monday.
Last game, TCU’s 13 turnovers against Texas was its fewest in eight games. The Horned Frogs had hard time getting everyone in rhythm offensively. Texas would go on deep scoring runs, while limiting TCU scoring runs to be short lived. Moving forward TCU is playing against another tough defensive squad in LSU. Texas ranked first in the nation in scoring defense for points allowed, and LSU is ranked 8th in the nation. Lets see how things shake up offensively for the Horned Frogs to be evenly effective on both ends.
When outrebounding its opponent, TCU is 12-2 this season and 93-28 under Jamie Dixon. This season, TCU has been outrebounded just three times. TCU’s adjusted defensive efficiency rating of 91.6 ranks 15th nationally and is TCU’s best number since KenPom began tracking stats in 1996-97. Under Dixon in Schollmaier Arena, TCU is 72-26 overall and 48-4 against nonconference opponents.
Well the players and Coach Dixon said it was embarassing for the fans to watch their performance. With a record crowd of 8,412 on hand at Schollmaier Arena, TCU fell to Texas, 73-50, on Tuesday. It was almost a full house. UT came in and silenced the whole building.
LSU snapped a three-game losing streak with a 70-64 win over Texas A&M on Wednesday. The Tigers are led by Tari Eason’s 15.9 points per game. LSU is one of the top defensive teams in the nation and ranks first in field goal defense (35.9) defensive efficiency (81.4), first in steals (11.4) and seventh in 3-point defense (26.9). This should be a good matchup because both teams are strong defensively and attack the glass hard, but lets see what these two teams can do offensively to see who pulls away.
LSU leads the all-time series 3-1. Its been way too long since these two teams played, so it will be good to start something fresh. It is the first meeting since an 83-74 win by the Horned Frogs in Baton Rouge on Nov. 21, 1986 in the Coca-Cola NIT. LSU last played at TCU on Dec. 17, 1960 and won the game, 68-62.
UP NEXT... TCU will play at Oklahoma on Monday at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
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