(Photo/Gregg Ellman )
FORT WORTH, TX – Coming off of a difficult COVID-19 season, TCU Men’s Basketball opens its 2021-22 campaign tonight by hosting the McNeese State Cowboys at Schollmeier Arena.
TCU (0-0) finished its season 12-14 overall last year, while McNeese State (0-1) finished 10-14 and 4-10 in the Southland Conference.
Despite the disappointing seasons for both programs, intense roster changes were made during the offseason to prepare the teams for upcoming battles.
Under direction of first-year head coach John Aiken, McNeese will introduce 12 newcomers, four of which will start. Among the newcomers is center Brendan Medley-Bacon who scored 15 points with 7 rebounds and 2 assists in the Cowboys 86-62 defeat by SMU on Tuesday.
TCU introduced nine transfers to its roster this offseason, including Texas A&M scoring and rebounding leader Emanuel Miller.
Some guys to look out for this season are sophomore guard Mike Miles and junior transfer from UT Arlington, Shahada Wells.
Mike Miles, who averaged 13.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists during his freshman year, was named to the Preseason All-Big-12 Team last month and All-Big-12 Honorable Mention in March.
Wells started in 23 games at UT Arlington, completing the season averaging 16.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists. Wells also ranked fourth in the Sun Belt Conference for scoring.
Despite only four returners, the abundance of newcomers should not be a problem as the Horned Frogs are hungry to make a run this season in one of the toughest conferences in basketball.
TCU is 3-0 in this matchup as the two teams have only met three times. The last matchup was in 2014 where TCU took home the win 68-50.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN+.
