The second year of the Jamie Dixon era at TCU will begin Nov. 10 hoping for an encore season following a season capped with a NIT Championship.
“Last season our strength of schedule was ranked 15 out of 351 teams,” head coach Jamie Dixon said. “I anticipate our schedule to be ranked even stronger this season.”
The Frogs are scheduled to play four teams that are one year removed from the NCAA tournament, and only two teams matched up with the Frogs did not finish last season with a winning record.
TCU will begin the season with three games in five days. The Frogs will face University of Louisiana Monroe Nov. 10, Tennessee Tech Nov. 13 and South Dakota State Nov. 15, who finished the 2016-17 campaign with a record of 22-12 and fell to Iowa in the first round of the NIT tournament.
The Horned Frogs will host the Omaha Mavericks Nov. 20. The Mavericks are picked by many to win the Summit League this season.
The Frogs will celebrate Thanksgiving as participants in the Emerald Coast Classic, an annual tournament held on the campus of Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Fla. Their first game will be played against New Mexico Nov. 24, and the winner will play the winner of the University of Maryland against St. Bonaventure, both of which finished the season with more than 20 wins. Maryland competed in the NCAA tournament last season.
The Horned Frogs will play Belmont Nov. 29, who finished last season 23-7 along with the Ohio Valley Conference championship and a trip to the second round of the NIT.
The Mustangs of SMU will venture to Fort Worth Dec. 5, a team that went 30-5 last season and made the second round of the NCAA tournament.
TCU will be participants in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Dec. 8 against Nevada. The Wolf Pack of Nevada finished the 2016-17 season 28-7 with a Mountain West Conference championship and a NCAA tournament bid. Tip time has been set for Midnight CST/10 PM PST and will be televised on ESPNU.
“We are thrilled to be a part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic,” said Dixon. “I expect to see many of our great fans in California come out to STAPLES Center and watch us compete against a very good Nevada team.”
TCU’s final non-conference game is the previously announced Big 12/SEC Challenge game at Vanderbilt University Jan. 27. The game against the Commodores, a NCAA tournament participant, will be televised on the ESPN network. TCU holds a 3-1 advantage over the SEC in the Challenge, the one loss coming last season to Auburn University.
Tip-off times and television networks are still to be determined.
