This story was originally published on March 17, 2023.
On Wednesday night in Dayton, Arizona State basically played the perfect game. The Sun Devils clobbered the Nevada Wolfpack in the First Four round of the NCAA Tournament and set themselves up for a date with the TCU Horned Frogs in Denver Friday night.
The Sun Devils will enter the West Region of the bracket now as the eleven-seed, with the sixth-seeded Horned Frogs having little preparation time for their opponent.
TCU finished their season with a 21-12 overall record, and went 9-9 in Big 12 play, good for a fifth-place tie in the regular season of maybe the nation’s strongest overall conference.
TCU’s Big 12 season ended with a loss against the conference champion Texas Longhorns in the semi-finals of the tournament.
“I talked about us being battle-tested. Well, so were they,” Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley said. “I think they play elite competition.”
Hurley was not lying after Wednesday’s game when he discussed TCU. The major fact many will point to is that the Horned Frogs were the only team in the nation that beat Kansas as a road team.
TCU was a strong defensive unit under head coach Jamie Dixon, holding opponents to 67.9 points per game.
However, TCU has had some late-season drama with one of their more important role players, sophomore center Eddie Lampkin Jr. The big man left the team before the start of the Big 12 Tournament and entered the transfer portal just a couple of days ago.
While not a crucial scorer, the 6-11 center provided TCU with a significant paint advantage over many teams and would likely have caused problems for the Sun Devils.
The toughest assignment for ASU’s defense will be superstar junior guard Mike Miles Jr. The guard averaged 17.3 points despite missing a string of games mid-year.
Miles Jr. earned a nod on the All-Big 12 second team and has been known to carry TCU’s offense at times with his impressive shot-making and relentless downhill playstyle, something the entire team uses frequently.
“They play aggressively so it’ll be a great matchup,” senior guard Devan Cambridge said.
Cambridge will likely draw matchups against Miles Jr. and his old high school teammate, senior guard Damion Baugh.
Baugh has been the second-leading scorer for TCU with an average of 12.6 points.
Unlike Wednesday’s opponent, the Sun Devils won’t have to worry about TCU’s 3-point shooting prowess, as the Horned Frogs rank 331st in the country (19 spots below ASU) in 3-point percentage with a mark of 30.61%.
One factor coach Hurley was not worried about after the win in Dayton was the climate in Denver.
“I don’t know what the elevation is in Dallas, but I wouldn’t imagine they could simulate those conditions between now and the game,” Hurley said.
Hurley also referenced his team’s trip to Colorado (a win over the Buffaloes) this season and trips to Salt Lake City against Utah in prior seasons as reasons to avoid concern.
TCU will also have to deal with the turnaround of learning its opponent less than 48 hours before tip-off. The Sun Devils and Wolfpack play fairly different styles, so there was likely no one-size-fits-all form of practicing for opponents prior to Wednesday for TCU.
History will also be on the side of the Sun Devils, sort of. Since the introduction of First Four in 2011, at least one of the two at-large winners from the First Four games has won a game with the exception of the 2019 tournament.
The Sun Devils can’t rely on a fun fact to beat the Horned Frogs on Friday. What they can rely on will be their last two weeks of tournament experience, in which they have battled high-quality competition and prepared for this moment.
ASU’s March journey continues at 7 p.m. MST at Ball Arena Friday night as the nightcap of a basketball-filled day.
Leave a Reply