TCU and Indiana State battle it out for the 2018 Diamond Head Classic championship. Can the Sycamores pull out another upset?
TV schedule: Tuesday, December 25, 9:00 pm ET. ESPN2
Arena: Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, Hawaii
After several non-conference losses by preseason favorites Loyola-Chicago and Illinois State, the Missouri Valley Conference seems to be much more wide-open, with other teams now in the mix to compete for the league title.
One of them is Indiana State (8-3) who is now at full strength after getting a pair of transfers eligible to play in the last week. Junior big man Christian Williams and freshman guard Cooper Niese have been big contributors in the three games they’ve been able to play, which have elevated the Sycamores as a team.
Indiana State has made a surprising run to the finals of the 2018 Diamond Head Classic, beating Colorado and then UNLV in the semifinals. Jordan Barnes had a huge game with a game-high 28 points and five assists on 11/15 shooting. He’s the Sycamore’s leading scorer on the season at 21.4 ppg and is a Conference Player of the Year frontrunner.
He’ll look to have a big game against TCU (10-1), the clear favorites coming into this event. They’ve won their last seven games, including scoring 82 points in easy wins over both Charlotte and Bucknell. It was a balanced effort for the Horned Frogs, with five players scoring in double figures. Senior Alex Robinson was the catalyst for them, dishing out 11 assists in the victory.
In a non-conference rarity, these two teams actually competed against one another this year. On December 16, TCU won at home over Indiana State, 90-70. Robinson led all scorers with 20 points, while Barnes led the Sycamores with 17 and five assists. The two glaring problems in that game for the MVC team was both the 19 turnovers committed in the game, as well as going just 3/20 from three-point range versus the Horned Frogs.
This time, the game is in a neutral environment. Indiana State also has been able the gel the new transfers into the rotations, with the results paying off. This game should be closer than the 20-point difference from nine days ago. However, TCU is the better team, with an elite offense that the Sycamores will once again struggle to keep up with. Unless they have a bad shooting night, the Horned Frogs should hoist up the Diamond Head Classic trophy.