TCU Basketball: Breaking down 2023-24 non-conference schedule

Tournaments and Other Contests

TCU’s 2023-24 schedule includes two one-off contests and an in-season tournament before Christmas.

December 2: Big East-Big 12 Battle at Georgetown (at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC)

After six years, the Patrick Ewing experiment at Georgetown is over. In enters Ed Cooley, who led Big East rival Providence to great heights. The rebuild of the Hoyas is going to take some time, but Cooley reeled in a couple of good transfers with All-Name Supreme Cook and Ismael Massoud. Guard Jay Heath is also back for another year and should be the team’s best player.

December 9: Basketball Hall of Fame Series vs. Clemson (at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, CA)

TCU heads north of the border to take on the Tigers in Ontario. Perennial hot seat figure Brad Brownell kept Clemson in NCAA Tournament contention all year in 2022-23, even getting his team ranked at one point. Still wasn’t enough and the Tigers immediately crashed out of the NIT. They’ll probably hang around the bubble again this year. Chase Hunter returns after averaging 13.8 points and 4.5 assists per game, while big man PJ Hall returns as well. Clemson also added former Syracuse guard Joe Girard III in the portal.

December 21-24: Diamond Head Classic (at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, HI)

The bracket for this year’s Diamond Head Classic hasn’t been released yet, but is expected to come later this summer. The participants are known, however, and the quality of the field – or lack thereof – should give TCU an opportunity to win this MTE.

TCU is one of only two major conference teams in the event this year. The other is the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who are transitioning to the Damon Stoudamire era after seven years under Josh Pastner. It’s hard to see that team becoming good-to-great that early in the year.

The rest of the field looks like this: Hawaii (last year’s champion), Nevada, Old Dominion, Portland, Temple, and UMass. The only one of those teams that really seem capable of scaring the Horned Frogs is Nevada, where 2022-23 All-Mountain West Second Team guard Jarod Lucas will make a run for MWC Player of the Year.

Since the tournament first tipped in 2009, USC is the only two-time champion of the Diamond Head Classic. TCU could be the second; the Horned Frogs won it in 2018, with Alex Robinson earning tournament MVP.

To match the success of recent years, the TCU Horned Frogs will need to ace their non-conference schedule, starting on November 6.