TCU men’s basketball opens Monday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff
As the TCU football continues to roll during its historic campaign, the basketball team is set to begin theirs on Monday.
With the highest preseason ranking in program history, the No. 14 Horned Frogs will open the season at 7 p.m. at Schollmaier Arena against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. With TCU returning its top six leading scorers from last year’s NCAA Tournament squad, there’s plenty of excitement around the program.
The Golden Lions won just seven games last year and it figures to be a smooth opener for TCU, except for the fact that the Horned Frogs’ guard depth could be tested earlier.
Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Mike Miles Jr.’s status is in the air as he deals with a toe injury.
“Mike was out the other day, it kind of caught us off guard,” head coach Jamie Dixon said. “He had really good practices the last few weeks and then was out (vs. Paul Quinn), I’m not really sure what exactly it is. It might be the right toe, they’re trying to figure it out. It’s a little swollen.”
Fellow starting guard Damion Baugh could also be absent as he’s still appealing an undisclosed NCAA suspension for briefly signing with an uncertified agent during the offseason.
Dixon says TCU is still going through the process and hopes to have the matter resolved soon.
“The process has gone pretty much how we thought. I’ve seen some things come out with the kid at Texas, now at Arizona (Courtney Ramey), our guy did far less than that,” Dixon said. “I can’t see what it could be. There was no benefit, that kid got a benefit. We’re just working through it.”
Ramey was suspended and will miss the first three games for Arizona this season.
With one, or both, potentially out for the season opener it creates more opportunity for TCU’s depth to establish itself starting with Shahada Wells.
Wells had 20 points against Paul Quinn in Sunday’s exhibition and has earned praise often from Dixon during the preseason.
“It was really good to see Hada Wells play well. We’ve known how good he was and we really needed him last year, but we didn’t have him,” Dixon said. “We survived somehow, he’s going to be a nice addition for us if you can call him that.”
Wells is one of four senior that will be in the rotation along with Preseason All-Big 12 honorable mention forward Emanuel Miller, Chuck O’Bannon and Baugh.
Dixon says that experience has stood out during the preseason and not just against Paul Quinn. Sources says the Horned Frogs hammered Alabama in a scrimmage earlier that wasn’t open to the media. The Crimson Tide will enter the season ranked No. 20 in the AP Poll.
Combine that and beating Paul Quinn by 70 in Sunday’s exhibition and it’s been so far, so good for TCU as the team continues to try to live up to the newfound hype around the program.
“It is funny to be back and talking about an experienced team. We’ve got guys back and it’s funny we were a young team with no returners last year and now we’re the old, veteran experienced team a year later,” Dixon said. “We’re really handling things well, they’ve worked hard.”
Another new name to watch will be Oklahoma State transfer Rondel Walker, who hit two three-point goals against Paul Quinn. in an exhibition. With his knowledge of the Big 12, Dixon is hoping Walker can help bolster the Horned Frogs’ effectiveness from outside.
One more question facing TCU is will Eddie Lampkin Jr. take the next step in his development after his double-double performance against Arizona on a national stage. Lampkin has shed weight and is leaner with better conditioning.
If he becomes a dominating force in the middle on a consistent basis, it’ll make TCU a potentially special team.
Here are three quick things to know about UAPB before Monday’s opener:
Key portal additions
As often is the case, UAPB hit the transfer portal hard after a tough season and brought in reinforcements to help the roster. Graduate transfer Shaun Doss was the biggest acquisition as the 6-foot-5 guard averaged 12 points and 6.4 rebounds per game at SIU-Edwardsville.
The Golden Lions also bring in Ismael Plet (Oral Roberts) and Chris Greene (Cleveland State). UAPB is hoping the two players’ NCAA Tournament experience will pay off for the program.
Milton’s a bucket?
Guard Kylen Milton is the leading returning scorer from last year’s team and averaged exactly 12 points. Milton was one of four Golden Lions selected to participate in a NBPA Top 50 camp this offseason. After coming over from Western Kentucky last year, the goal for the sophomore will to be more efficient with his shot selection as he finished under 40% from the floor and 30% from 3-point range.
The Lions are hoping that he and Doss can form a solid backcourt which could test TCU, at least early in Monday’s game.
Underrated size
UAPB has a little more size in its frontcourt than your typical SWAC team. TCU has three players listed at 6’9 and above while UAPB has two and four more players listed at 6’8. Plet and Green are among those frontcourt players, but while the Golden Lions have decent size there’s also some youth.
Brazilian forward Samuel Da Cruz and Robert Lewis are both 6-foot-9 and freshmen. Rafael Martinez is another international freshman as he’s originally from Switzerland. The Golden Lions were one of the worst rebounding teams in the country with less than 30 boards per game. That obviously won’t bode well against TCU if the new additions can’t help strengthen that area of the team.
