Kansas State vs TCU: 2019 Big 12 Tournament game preview, TV Schedule
By Chris Kern
The TCU Horned Frogs picked up a big win over Oklahoma State on Thursday night but they might need a win over the top-seeded Kansas State Wildcats to get into the NCAA Tournament.
TV Schedule: March 14th 2:30 PM ET. ESPN2
Location: Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri
The Kansas State Wildcats won both of the regular season matchups by double digits in low scoring games. The TCU Horned Frogs have had an up and down season and their recent struggles have hurt their NCAA Tournament chances in a big way.
The win over Oklahoma State keeps them in the conversation for an at-large bid, but if they want to be confident in their chances they need to get a win over Kansas State. They were absolutely terrible down the stretch on Wednesday night and they will have zero chance to win if they play like that at all. They led by as much as 21 in the second half including their 68-54 lead with 6:58 remaining. They eventually fell behind 70-68 but a Desmond Bane three-pointer with 16 seconds left got them the victory.
Some feel the Oklahoma State win was enough to get them into the NCAA Tournament and that may be true but with so many other bubble teams left to play this week you want to stay alive as long as possible. They have some quality wins on their resume, most notably their season sweep of Iowa State. The committee has shown in recent years that even if you have a tough schedule with a good record you will not be rewarded for beating up on the weaker teams.
The chances of TCU getting this win has improved though as K State star Dean Wade is doubtful to play in the Big 12 Tournament. It seems as if it is just precautionary to make sure he is available for the NCAA Tournament but it is a situation to monitor going forward. They were without him for last year’s tournament and they made the Elite Eight so they are confident they can make it back there or even further with him out there this season.
The Wildcats have had an up and down season in which it looked like they weren’t going to live up to preseason expectations at all. They were bad on the offensive end of the floor for a large part of the season but for the majority of conference play, they have continued to improve. Since starting 0-2 in conference play and falling behind big at home against West Virginia they have really kicked it into gear.
The health of Dean Wade is a big part of that but the play of their other senior’s play was a big reason they were able to secure a share of the Big 12 regular season title. Barry Brown won the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year while taking over many games on the offensive end of the floor as well. Kamau Stokes has been an afterthought a lot of times but he has been a key piece of this team for the past few years and they will need him to be successful the rest of the season.
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I expect TCU and play well like they did of the majority of the Oklahoma State game but they will need to avoid long scoring stretches to get this win. Kansas State is an elite defensive team and they will make it tough for the Horned Frogs to score consistently. I think that will be the difference in the game as this turns out to be similar to the regular season meetings.