Jamie Dixon remains in COVID-19 protocol. Will he make TCU’s road trip to Kansas?
TCU coach Jamie Dixon listed himself as questionable to attend Thursday’s basketball game at Kansas.
Dixon is feeling better but is still dealing with “some effects” after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. He has been in self isolation since testing positive on Jan. 18, and it’s unclear if he’ll make TCU’s road trip.
But as of Tuesday afternoon, Dixon expected the team to have enough players available to play. The Big 12 threshold for basketball is six players, regardless of who is coaching.
“We’ll see how things go,” Dixon said. “We’ll see how it plays out.”
TCU is expected to depart for No. 15 Kansas on Wednesday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Allen Fieldhouse. The Frogs then travel to No. 12 Missouri for the Big 12-SEC Challenge on Saturday in Columbia, Missouri.
If Dixon isn’t able to return to the sidelines, he expects both assistant head coaches Ryan Miller and Tony Benford to serve as the de facto head coaches. Miller would technically be the “active head coach” as he’s the longest-tenured assistant on staff, but Benford would play a critical role as a former head coach.
“Tony more defense, Ryan more offense in what they do,” Dixon said.
Whoever is coaching that night, the players will have confidence in them.
As junior guard RJ Nembhard said, “We’re hoping Coach Dixon can get back as soon as possible because we do miss him, but we’ll be ready to go.”
Outside of the questions surrounding Dixon’s status, the Frogs have been limited in practices. Only four players are not in COVID protocol with the rest of the team having to do individual workouts.
“That’s the situation we’re still in and figuring it out at this point,” Dixon said. “Very little we can do as a team.”
As Dixon has been away from the team, he’s watched plenty of games and done as much basketball-related activities as possible.
“Watched a lot of film, watched a lot of games, no question about that,” Dixon said. “Seeing what’s working for other teams and there’s no secrets out there — it’s the older, experienced, deep teams [winning].”
TCU is looking to get back to its winning ways. The Frogs are in the midst of a three-game losing streak with a 36-point loss at Oklahoma on Jan. 12 being the last game played.
The losing skid started when KU rolled to a 93-64 victory over TCU on Jan. 5 in Fort Worth. Prior to that, the Frogs were riding a five-game winning streak.
Dixon acknowledged the COVID-related setbacks of late will bring on its own set of issues, from lack of practice to conditioning concerns.
Asked about how much work players can get doing individual drills, Dixon said: “Certainly it’s not preparing for Kansas. It’s not preparing for our league. That’s for sure. But in some ways, too, you’re not getting banged up or the injuries during practice. ... The conditioning part of it is huge. It’s not the same.
“I thought the Kansas game [on Jan. 5], we just looked tired. I didn’t understand it. We won five in a row and we’re playing Kansas, which was coming off a loss. But it was our 11th straight day. As I look at it now, maybe we needed a day off.”
Well, the Frogs will now have had 15 days off.
This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 3:35 PM.
