TCU basketball knows what to expect against Arizona State in NCAA tournament game
The wait is finally over and now TCU knows it will face Arizona State in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
The Sun Devils crushed Nevada 98-73 in the First Four game on Wednesday night to advance. It was an impressive performance that TCU watched together as a team when they got off the plane.
“They’re a good team, very athletic,” Mike Miles Jr. said Thursday. “They can shoot, our job is to not let them get comfortable shooting the ball. They got hot last night; against us, we have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Arizona State shot a staggering 64% from the floor and and made 11 of their 21 3-point attempts. Both were well above their season averages.
Coach Jamie Dixon has watched Arizona State on numerous occasions including the Sun Devils’ 73-71 win over Creighton early in the season. Wednesday night was the best he’s seen Arizona State play this season.
“I’ve seen how athletic they were, how long they are,” Dixon said. “I knew some of their guys as well, they made shots. Everybody looks good when you make shots and they did that for 40 minutes. I knew they had good players, but they all played well last night so the depth stood out.”
The Sun Devils got great production from Jamiya Neal and Luther Muhammad off the bench. Neal had 16 points while Muhammad scored 12 including two 3-pointers in the win over the Wolf Pack. Star guards DJ Horne scored 20 while leading scorer Desmond Cambridge Jr. had 17 points and six assists.
The 98 points was the most Arizona State has scored this season. As impressive as the win was, it hasn’t shaken the confidence of TCU.
“I feel pretty good about where we are health wise,” Dixon said. “I’ve told our guys I think we’re playing our best basketball. I think we played very well in the Big 12 tournament picking up a win against Kansas State and having every opportunity against Texas, didn’t get it done, but I liked how hard we played.”
Along with the roster being the healthiest it’s been, TCU has also started to find success from the 3-point line. The Horned Frogs are shooting 38.1 percent from 3-point range over its last five games, much better than its season average of 30.6.
It makes TCU a much more dangerous team offensively and could be something the Horned Frogs could exploit. Arizona State allowed 11 3-pointers against Nevada and for the season, opponents are making almost 35% of their 3-pointers, which ranks 208th nationally.
Defensively, the Horned Frogs are anticipating an up-tempo game.
“Pac-12 is a more offensive-oriented league, the Big 12 is more defensive,” Chuck O’Bannon said. O’Bannon played three seasons at USC before transferring to TCU, so he knows the league and their play styles very well.
“They’re going to shoot a little more crazier shots than we are, play a little faster,” O’Bannon said. “It’s on us to play defense, be in the gaps and be ready for anything to comes our way.”
Arizona State pushing the tempo could play into the hands of TCU. Not only will the Horned Frogs be the more rested team, but TCU also remains the No. 1 fast break offense in the country with nearly 18 points per game in transition.
“We’ve been doing it all year long, we’ve got to get stops,” Dixon said. “Against Texas we did get stops, we just didn’t convert. The fast break is certainly an emphasis for us going forward, our belief is when we get stops we can get transition opportunities.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2023 at 4:29 PM.
