Eyeing tourney bid, TCU out to finish strong vs. UCF

TCU can bolster its case for a spot in the NCAA Tournament when UCF visits in the Big 12 Conference and regular-season finale for both teams Saturday evening in Fort Worth, Texas.

TCU (20-10, 9-8 Big 12) has a solid No. 38 spot in the latest NET rankings, which are used as a tool to help set the 68-team March tournament field. The Horned Frogs are also projected as a No. 10 seed by ESPN bracket analyst Joe Lunardi.

Emanuel Miller had 21 points in TCU's 93-81 win Wednesday over West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va., as the Horned Frogs shook off back-to-back losses to then-No. 15 Baylor and BYU last week.

"We lost two tough games, so I'm excited about how we played offensively," TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. "Defensively, we could have been better. We're still trying to find ourselves in that area. But I loved our offense."

The Horned Frogs, who were in the Top 25 as recently as Jan. 29, have not closed the season strong, losing five of their last nine.

UCF (15-14, 6-11) is 67th in the NET rankings and has lost eight of its last 11 games. The Knights are coming off a 67-59 home loss to No. 1 Houston when they led 31-28 at the half.

"I was disappointed," Knights coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We had a game plan, a strategy, and I don't think we executed well at all to start. We gave them some of the looks we were trying to take away. We have to be better than that."

TCU averages 80.5 points per game, third in the Big 12, while the Eagles average 71.0 per game, 13th in the conference.

The Horned Frogs are led by a trio of seniors in wing Miller (16.1 points, 5.9 rebounds per game) and guards Micah Peavy and Jameer Nelson Jr (11.2 points apiece).

Junior guards Jaylin Sellers (16.0 points) and Darius Johnson (14.1 points) lead the attack for Dawkins' Knights.

—Field Level Media