The No. 9-seeded TCU Horned Frogs overcame a second-half rally to knock off the No. 8-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday. With the victory, TCU (23-11, 11-7 Big 12) advanced to the second round, where the Horned Frogs will face the No. 1-seeded Duke Blue Devils (33-2). Duke trailed in the first half before rallying to beat the No. 16-seeded Siena Saints 71-65.
TCU is currently an 11.5-point underdog against the heavily favored Blue Devils. Full betting odds at FanDuel can be seen here. Can the Horned Frogs pull off another upset? Here are three keys to the game against Duke.
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Containing Cameron Boozer
Star freshmen Cayden and Cameron Boozer, sons of former NBA star Carlos Boozer, have been integral to Duke’s success this season. But Cameron, who averages 22.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, leads the Blue Devils in both scoring and rebounding. Boozer posted 22 points and 13 rebounds (five offensive) and earned his bread at the free-throw line, going 13-for-14 to drag the Blue Devils past the upset-hungry Saints.
The 6-foot-9, 250-pounder will likely be matched up with either David Punch or Xavier Edmonds, both All-Big 12 players for the Horned Frogs. Slowing Boozer down will be paramount if TCU aspires to reach the Sweet 16.
Controlling the boards
TCU outrebounded Ohio State 38-32 in its first-round victory Thursday afternoon. Punch grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds to lead all players and Edmonds pulled down eight rebounds. While the Horned Frogs entered with a higher rebounding average on the season than the Buckeyes, that won’t be the case on Saturday. Duke brings in 40.4 rebounds per game, 4.2 more than the Horned Frogs. The Blue Devils, despite struggling in the first half against Siena, outrebounded the Saints 43-31 and had two players (Boozer and Isaiah Evans) in double figures.
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Given that Duke is a better shooting team (82.0 points on 49 percent shooting) than TCU (77.9 points on 45 percent shooting), the Horned Frogs cannot afford to lose the rebounding battle in Saturday’s matchup.
A boost off the bench
Both TCU and Duke run tight rotations, with the Horned Frogs using seven players while the Blue Devils also deploy a seven-man rotation. Neither team got much from its bench in the first round, with TCU receiving just four points from Liutauras Lelevicius while Duke got only three points from Nikolas Khamenia. TCU’s bench players went 2-for-10 against Ohio State and Duke’s reserves finished 1-for-8 on field goals against Siena.
Should TCU upset the Blue Devils and reach the Sweet 16, the Horned Frogs will need more from their bench. Lelevicius (8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds) and Tanner Toolson (7.8 points and 3.1 rebounds) are players to watch.
