TCU men learn seed, first-round opponent for NCAA Tournament
TCU men’s basketball received a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday and will face No. 8 Ohio State in an East Region first-round game Thursday in Greenville, South Carolina.
This will be TCU’s fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in five seasons under coach Jamie Dixon after missing out last year.
“In the NIL era, to go four out of five [is big],” Dixon said. “I look at the other teams in the 8-9 games and there’s some big spenders in those games. It’s a nice a matchup. I’ve seen Ohio State play a lot. We know a couple of their guys; we actually recruited some. I’ve seen them play plenty.”
The Horned Frogs (22-11) and Buckeyes (21-12) will play at 11:15 a.m. Thursday on CBS. Ohio State has been installed as an early 2.5-point favorite.
If TCU advances, it will face the winner of overall No. 1 seed Duke (32-2) and No. 16 Siena (23-11) in the second round Saturday. If the Horned Frogs reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in the modern era, that game will be played in Washington, D.C.
“We kind of knew we were going to be in the East,” Dixon said. “We’re certainly the only team that’s played three of the No. 1 seeds, and we knew there was a pretty good chance we had to be separated.”
Florida, Arizona and Michigan were the other No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. The Horned Frogs went 1-2 against the trio with a win over the Gators in November.
The Horned Frogs’ chances of returning to March Madness appeared unlikely at times this season. TCU lost to New Orleans in its season opener and started 3-6 in Big 12 play, but the Horned Frogs rallied down the stretch, winning eight of their last nine games in the regular season to get off the bubble.
TCU won its Big 12 Tournament opener against Oklahoma State before falling to Kansas in the quarterfinals Thursday.
“It’s interesting. We had a great preseason, we felt good going in. Everybody was healthy,” Dixon said. “Then literally the day before our first game I think we had four guys all of a sudden hurt. [Xavier Edmonds] is playing his first game and gets into foul trouble. All of a sudden the team that we had is not the team that we practiced with.
“We had the loss and didn’t play well. ... We had a unique resume, but the bottom line is we were better as the year went on, and that’s what you want to be.”
Those bits of adversity, especially the loss to New Orleans, caused many fans to believe the season was over. But that skepticism served as fuel for some Horned Frogs like leading scorer David Punch.
“A lot of people gave up on us after that first loss,” the sophomore forward said. “It didn’t sit right with us, but at that time we had lost, and just looking back on it, I’m glad that we’re at where we’re at. I’m glad we proved people wrong, it just shows how resilient we are. I’m proud of my guys.”
For players like senior guard Jayden Pierre and junior guard Brock Harding, who both transferred to TCU this offseason, the Horned Frogs reaching the postseason served as further confirmation they made the right decision.
“It means a lot. It’s part of the reason I came to TCU,” Pierre said. “It means a lot, but I’m ready to win some games in there.”
Pierre last made the NCAA Tournament his freshman season at Providence in 2023. For Harding, it’s the first trip to the tournament for the former Iowa transfer.
“As a whole we’ve been through everything. Some real highs and some low lows,” Harding said. “We started the season as low as you could and bounced back as a team. We’ve been through everything as a team, and we did what we said we wanted to do, but this isn’t where we want it to stop. We have a lot more to play for.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2026 at 5:06 PM.
