Preview: vs. Arkansas – TCU Athletics

CONTINUED TO BE WORTH IT – TCU will face Arkansas in its first-ever men's basketball benefit game on Friday at 7 p.m. at Dickies Arena.

NOTES

– The Horned Frogs will support the Cook Children's Health Foundation and the Razorbacks' preferred charity is the Arkansas Children's Foundation.
– TCU is 4-1 at Dickies Arena and played its first college basketball game there on December 6, 2019 against USC.
– TCU is 31-17 in neutral site games under the head coach Jamie Dixon.
– Dixon is in his 22nd season as head coach and ninth season at TCU.
-Dixon is 12 wins shy of 500 as a head coach. His 160 wins at TCU rank second all-time.
– The Horned Frogs lost nine scholarship players from last year’s team, including their top seven scorers.
– All six players who were ineligible to play last season have signed with a professional team.
– TCU scored just 4.7% of its points total from last season, the fewest in the Big 12 and the 10th fewest in the country.
– TCU's 14.2% rebounding percentage is second-fewest in the Big 12 and 21st-fewest in the country.
– TCU is returning 7.5% of its minutes played last season, the fewest in the Big 12 and 12th in the country.
– Top departures from last year's team included All-Conference players Emanuel Miller And Jameer Nelson Jr.

– Ernest Udeh Jr. is the only returning fellow. He started in 29 games and averaged 4.3 points and 5.3 rebs.
– TCU's new class includes seven transfers and four freshmen.
– Freshman class is ranked 17th on ESPN and highlighted by Micah Robinson (64) and David Punch (96).
– Belong to the transfer class Frankie Collins, Noah Reynolds, Trazarien White and Brendon Wenzel, who each played at least three years of college basketball before arriving at TCU this summer.
– White is a two-time All-Colonial Athletic Association guard from UNC Wilmington and has 1,298 career points.
– Collins started at guard the last two seasons at Arizona State and averaged 13.6 points and 3.2 assists last year.
– Reynolds ranked third in the Horizon League with 20.0 points last season in Green Bay.
– Wenzel has a career 37.7% 3-point shooting percentage after shooting that same rate last season at Wyoming.
– Another newbie, Vasean Alletteaveraged 17.4 points and 5.7 rebounds as a freshman at Old Dominion.
– Return to the team Isaiah Manning And Jace Poseywho redshirted as a freshman last season.
– TCU led the nation in fast break points the past two seasons.
– Last season, TCU finished as the program's top seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.
– TCU has appeared in the NCAA Tournament four times in the last six seasons that included a postseason.
— TCU had been to the NCAA Tournament in the 30 years prior to Dixon's first appearance in 2018.
– TCU's winning percentage in Dixon's eight seasons is .593, the best mark by a TCU coach in 20 years.
– Only 22 active D1 coaches have more wins than Dixon.
– TCU has 17 seasons with 20 or more wins in its history and six of those have come in the last eight seasons.
-Dixon has 20 wins in a season and 18 times in 21 seasons as a head coach.

ABOUT THE OPPONENT

– Arkansas is led by John Calipari in his first season as head coach. Calipari has 855 career wins in his 32 years as a head coach and most recently served in that position at Kentucky.
– The Razorbacks have 13 newcomers, including seven transfers and six freshmen. Their only returning starter is Trevon Brazile, who averaged 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds last season.
– Arkansas defeated No. 1 Kansas 85-69 in its first game on Oct. 25 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. DJ Wagner led the team with 24 points.

HISTORY OF THE SERIES

– Arkansas leads the all-time series 105-38.
– The last meeting took place as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge on February 25, 2020. The Razorbacks won the home game 78-67.
– The last time Arkansas came to Fort Worth for a regular season game was Jan. 15, 1991 and it was a 93-73 Razorbacks win.

NEXT
— TCU opens its 114th men's basketball season on Monday against Florida A&M. Tip-off in the Schollmaier Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.