
Two familiar faces will return to the hardwood for the 18th-ranked TCU men’s basketball team for Tuesday’s game against 2018 NCAA Tournament participant Lipscomb.
Junior guard Jaylen Fisher and sophomore forward Kouat Noi are expected to play their first basketball game of the season, head coach Jamie Dixon said. Both are recovering from knee injuries. “I’m feeling really good about Jaylen as far as playing tomorrow,” said Dixon. “He practiced well the past couple of days and he’s been practicing with us for about 10 days now. Same thing with Kouat. I anticipate both of them being there.” When healthy, Fisher has been a difference maker. He averaged 12.3 points and 5.4 assists in 17 games last season before suffering a torn meniscus in January, ending his sophomore season. He was showing signs of a breakthrough before the injury, scoring a season-high 22 points in a Jan. 13 match-up at Oklahoma. Fisher has had surgery on both knees in the last two years, including an arthroscopic procedure in September. In his first year, Fisher broke his left wrist during an NIT tournament game against Fresno State. This history led Dixon to be non-committal when discussing the plan for Fisher’s play-time in his first game back. “Practicing is one thing, playing is another thing and getting out there with the lights on and the whole deal,” said Dixon. “His situation is even more unique with the time he’s missed, but we’ll see what happens.” Dixon said he’ll utilize two point guards together as he’s done in the past with Fisher and Alex Robinson, two of the team’s most talented players. Noi adds another scoring threat as well as an increase in floor-spacing. He averaged 10.2 points a game last season and was fourth in the Big 12 with a 43.4 percent rate from three. Their teammates are ready to have both of TCU’s top contributors back on the court. “Kouat coming back as a scorer and Jaylen is a scorer and distributor, so they bring a lot of scoring back to us that we were missing in the first couple games,” said center Kevin Samuel.