The Big 12 Conference had a slow day in the NCAA Tournament by its standards, as two teams were in action to start the second round.
The Houston Cougars (30-6), the No. 32 seed in the South Region, beat No. 10 Texas A&M, 88-57, in a battle of former Southwest Conference rivals. The Cougars built on the momentum of their easy first-round win and had the Aggies (22-12) down big at the break. There was little looking back after halftime.
TCU (23-12) saw its season end as the No. 9 seeded Horned Frogs lost to No. 1 Duke (33-3), 81-58. The Horned Frogs got 18 points from Micah Robinson and 12 points from Xavier Edmonds in a physical game that reminded one of Big 12 regular-season basketball. The Blue Devils overcame a tight first half to advance to the Sweet 16.
Here are the takeaways from the day.
Houston Dominates Again
For the second straight tournament game, the Houston Cougars just put their opponent in a chokehold and didn’t let go. This game should have been closer. The Aggies are a good team. But, by halftime, Houston was up 46-28 and this one was essentially done.
Emanuel Sharp was at it again with 18 points, but only two 3-pointers. Upon reflection of his regular season, I think his points were less “meaningful” than they are now. Other players were hitting key shots to spark runs. Sharp seems to have pivoted to being that player after two rounds.
Milos Uzan scored 15 points and Chris Cenac Jr. added 17 points. Through two games in the tournament all five of Houston’s starters — the others being Kingston Flemings and Joseph Tugler — have scored in double figures in at least one game. That offensive distribution is going to come in handy next week in Houston in the Sweet 16.
But the biggest takeaway was Houston’s rebounding. The Cougars dominated, 46-29. That included a 19-9 edge on the offensive glass. It’s an underappreciated part of Houston’s game. It’s just another way to assert domination and that part of its game appears to be firing away with the next stage of the tournament ahead.
I liked Houston’s path to start the tournament and I still do. There’s a good chance the Cougars can get back to the Final Four.
TCU’s Top Seed Sheet Complete
TCU ended up with an odd distinction as its season ended on Saturday in the second round of the East Region. The No. 8 Horned Frogs ended up playing all four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
The Horned Frogs went 1-3 against them, with the only win coming against Florida in a neutral site tournament in November. TCU hosted Michigan and nearly beat the Wolverines in November. The Horned Frogs lost to Arizona in Big 12 play and then lost to the Blue Devils on Saturday.
This turned into an impossible game to win due to foul trouble. TCU is used to physical play in the Big 12 but this game featured a tight whistle. With 10 minutes left in the game and Duke working on a 20-6 run, three Horned Frogs had four fouls — Xavier Edmonds, Tanner Toolson and Liutauras Lelevicius. Edmonds fouled out on a double flagrant one foul.
It led to an enormous disparity at the foul line, with Duke going 20-for-23 and TCU going 5-for-10. That disparity led to TCU coach Jamie Dixon getting a technical foul. By then, the game was slipping away.
The Horned Frogs played the Blue Devils to a virtual draw at halftime. The Blue Devils led, 38-34. While the free-throw disparity was clear, the Blue Devils won this game because they overcame TCU’s stifling defense to shoot 55% for the game. The Horned Frogs shot 33% and just couldn’t keep up with it.
Great shooting like that is almost always a differentiator in a tournament like this. The only thing TCU did to try and cut into the disparity was force 17 turnovers. But that wasn’t nearly enough to avoid another second-round exit.
Two Programs, Two Directions
For Houston and TCU, former Southwest Conference rivals who didn’t make the initial cut for the Big 12 when the conference was formed but are now league rivals, Saturday’s results were indicative of where each program has been the past several years.
Houston advanced to the Sweet 16 for the seventh straight NCAA Tournament, dating back to 2018. The Cougars have won 30 or more games six times in eight seasons (including the 2019-20 COVID season) and for the past five seasons. Houston is a standard-bearer program with two Final Four appearances in the last five years, including last year’s national championship game appearance. The only piece missing is a national title.
As for TCU, the second round has become the Wall on the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms in “Game of Thrones.” He’s taken the Horned Frogs to the NCAA Tournament four times in the last five seasons with first-round wins in three tournaments. TCU has lost the second-round game each time. The Horned Frogs’ losses were to Arizona, Gonzaga and now Duke.
As much as Dixon has lifted that program up, he and the Horned Frogs need to get over that hump.
