Next two games for TCU could make or break NCAA Tournament chances. First up: Texas Tech
March is here and TCU views itself worthy of an NCAA Tournament bid.
Two of the top “bracketologists,” Jerry Palm of CBS Sports and Joe Lunardi of ESPN, agree. Palm has the Frogs as a 10-seed in his latest bracket, while Lunardi has them as an 11-seed.
But TCU (18-10, 6-9 Big 12) knows it’s firmly on the bubble with three games left in the regular season, and it likely has to pull off an upset against either No. 11 Texas Tech (23-5, 11-4) on Saturday or No. 16 Kansas State (21-7, 11-4) on Monday to strengthen its spot in the Big Dance.
The Frogs are going all-in for the Red Raiders game on Saturday, asking fans to partake in a “No Sit Saturday” campaign to make Schollmaier Arena as hostile as possible.
“We’re fighting to get in the NCAA Tournament,” said TCU coach Jamie Dixon, whose program hasn’t made consecutive trips to the Big Dance since 1951-52 and 1952-53 seasons.
“Obviously we need to get after it and get a win against Texas Tech.”
That would certainly help the Frogs’ March Madness pitch. This is a team that has sustained bad conference road losses to Oklahoma State and West Virginia of late, although they rose to the occasion to knock off a ranked Iowa State team twice.
The latest blow came Tuesday night in Morgantown. TCU missed nine free throws, turned it over 24 times and failed to get a shot up twice in end-game situations that could have ended it in regulation and double overtime.
Instead, TCU left with a 104-96 loss in triple overtime. It’s funny to think TCU whipped West Virginia in the first meeting 98-67 in Fort Worth.
“West Virginia was a tough loss,” senior forward JD Miller said. “They are at the bottom of the Big 12, which hurt us badly, but we’re looking forward to the next game. We’re looking forward to Texas Tech. We’ve got to come out ready to play hard.”
Much like West Virginia flipped the script of the first meeting, TCU will be trying to do the same to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders got hot from 3-point range in Lubbock, and cruised to an 84-65 victory.
The silver lining from that game, though, may have been TCU’s ability to contain Tech star Jarrett Culver for much of the game. Culver had just eight points before scoring 10 in the final 7:27.
TCU has to slow down Culver, a likely NBA Draft lottery pick who is averaging 18 points a game.
“We’ve got to not let him get anything in transition,” Dixon said. “We’ve talked about, he takes some shots, uses his length and size over guys, and we don’t want to foul him and put him at the foul line. He’s going to get shots up. He’s going to get looks, so you understand that but it’s just trying to make it a little bit harder, keep him off the foul line.”
For TCU, Saturday is where the stretch run starts. Motivation isn’t an issue with seniors such as Miller and Alex Robinson determined to end their careers on the right note.
“I want to make it to the tournament,” Robinson said. “I want to go back. It was a really fun experience. So having that opportunity, that would mean the world to me.”
Said Miller: “The tournament thing ... I’m very motivated about the tournament. That’s our goal.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 12:06 PM.
