TCU looks to avoid early stumble against Southern

TCU Horned Frogs isn't shying away from lofty goals early in the new season as it hosts Southern Jaguars on Friday night in Fort Worth, Texas.

Horned Frogs coach Jamie Dixon made that clear following a season-opening 98-59 victory over Lindenwood on Monday, which marked Dixon's 200th win at TCU.

"We've done some good things, but we want to do more," Dixon said. "We want to get to a Final Four, but we've got work to do. I think we have a good group to do it."

For TCU (1-0), next up is Southern. The Horned Frogs likely won't take any team lightly in non-conference play, especially after falling to New Orleans in last season's opener. The loss didn't keep TCU out of the NCAA Tournament, but it hurt its seeding, and the Horned Frogs went out in the second round.

"Last year we saw the impact of how that game impacted us later in the season," TCU guard Micah Robinson said. "So us knowing that this year, we knew that these games matter just as much as the games in conference late in March and April."

Robinson was impressive in the opener against Lindenwood, scoring 19 points. DJ Thomas also scored 19 for the Horned Frogs, who improved to 54-9 in November under Dixon.

Southern (0-1), meanwhile, fell 85-72 at SMU on Monday. The Jaguars were competitive in the first half, trailing 40-38 at the break before SMU outscored them by 11 points in the second half.

R'Chaun King led Southern with 12 points, and Daniel "DJ" Dormu added 10 as the only Jaguars players to finish in double figures in scoring.

Before the season, Southern coach Kevin Johnson said he liked how his staff went about building the roster, saying it's the best size he's had since taking over the program before the 2023-24 season.

"This will be the biggest team that we've had here at Southern and, depth-wise, it's the most depth we've had," Johnson told the Jaguar Journal. "So I'm excited about the possibilities."

--Field Level Media