TCU, seeded ninth, will play eighth-seeded Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 16. The game is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Central Time at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, and will be broadcast on CBS.
This marks TCU’s 12th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its fifth under head coach Jamie Dixon. The Horned Frogs have a tournament record of seven wins and eleven losses. Dixon has led TCU to all five of its recent appearances and holds a personal record of two wins and four losses with the team in the tournament. He has participated in sixteen NCAA Tournaments as a head coach over his twenty-two seasons.
The Horned Frogs finished sixth in the Big 12 this season after being picked tenth in the preseason poll, achieving a program-record eleven conference wins. David Punch leads TCU with an average of 14.3 points per game and ranks third in the Big 12 for blocks per game. Xavier Edmonds was named to the All-Big 12 Conference third team and recorded ten double-doubles during conference play, more than any other player this season.
Ohio State enters the matchup with a record of twenty-one wins and twelve losses overall, including twelve wins in Big Ten play. Guard Bruce Thornton leads the Buckeyes with an average of 20.2 points per game and also tops his team with nearly four assists per contest.
Historically, Ohio State leads the series against TCU four games to none, with all previous meetings taking place during the 1960s. The winner of Thursday’s game will advance to face either top-seeded Duke or sixteenth-seeded Siena on Saturday.
