No. 11 seed Syracuse (21-13, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) escaped Dayton with a narrow victory on Wednesday night. Now, in the Round of 64, it gets a matchup with No. 6 seed TCU (21-11, 9-9 Big 12) on Friday night in Detroit.

Here’s what to know about the Horned Frogs.

All-time series: Syracuse leads, 4-0

Last time they played: The Orange beat the Horned Frogs in the Carrier Dome on Dec. 3, 2005. Demetris Nichols scored 24 points, Eric Devendorf had 19 and Gerry McNamara added 11 points and 10 assists as SU cruised to an 80-64 victory.

The Texas Christian Report: Much like ASU, the Horned Frogs are an offensive machine. Their 120.7 adjusted offensive efficiency is the eighth-best mark in the country per Kenpom.com, and their effective field goal percentage of 56.9 is the 13th-best.

TCU has a balanced attack, with four active players averaging double-digits in scoring. It works because the Horned Frogs average 18.8 assists per game, the second-best mark in the country. The team also shoots 40 percent from deep, the 13th-best mark in the country.

Where TCU and Arizona State differ is that the Horned Frogs have height and are solid on the boards. TCU’s own offensive rebounding percentage is 21st-best and it’s 58th-best in limiting opposing teams offensive rebounds.

The Horned Frogs do have some weak spots, though. Firstly, it’s their depth, after starting point guard Jaylen Fisher went down with a season-ending injury in mid-January. Secondly, TCU isn’t very solid on defense. Opponents have an effective field goal percentage of 52.7, a bottom-third mark in the country, and shoot nearly 38 percent from deep.

How Syracuse beats TCU: Same way it beat Arizona State: Limit a hot offense and confuse it by showing it a zone it probably hasn’t seen too much of before. Then, try and do just enough on offense to scrape by with a win.

Syracuse barely clawed to 60 points on Wednesday night, getting there after a foul with 0.4 seconds left. If Syracuse can somehow hold TCU to less than 60, like it did ASU, that should be enough, but that might be asking a lot.

Instead, Syracuse will need to score a little bit better, but still control the tempo of the game to try and slow down TCU’s offense and turn the game into a slugfest that favors the Orange.

Stat to know: 15-6

Jamie Dixon, now the head coach at TCU, had a 15-6 record against Syracuse while he was the head coach of Pittsburgh from the 2003-2004 season until the 2015-2016 season.

Kenpom odds: Kenpom gives Syracuse a 38 percent chance of winning and predicts a 69-66 win for TCU.

Player to watch: Kenrich Williams, guard, No. 34

The 6-foot-7 senior guard is a do-it-all type for the Horned Frogs. He’s second on the team in scoring (13.1 points per game) and assists (4.0) while also leading the team in rebounds (9.3). Williams shoots 47.7 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep. His performance this year earned him a spot on the All-Big 12 second team.

Published on March 15, 2018 at 8:20 am

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