FORT WORTH — Thirty minutes before tip-off, you shouldn’t be on your phone at a TCU basketball game.
Check that. Actually, maybe you should. If you have any question whether Jamie Dixon and the Horned Frogs will have a full lineup available, keep an eye on your phone. There may be news.
Saturday, a half-hour or so before the Big 12 opener, it was clear Jaylon Fisher — watching pregame in grays — again was going to miss a game. The knee was still giving him problems, and it could be that way all year. He is one of the best players in the league. His availability matters.
That wasn’t the only news. Turns out four-star freshman Kaden Archie had left the team, apparently with the intent to transfer. Something about playing time, although Dixon offered only, “Sometimes what you think is not really what it is.” Whatever the case, the big recruit from Midlothian also was not available Saturday.
Nor was Yuat Alok, the junior-college transfer the Frogs had big plans for — before he broke his wrist. Saturday was the third missed game for the big forward originally from New Zealand. Another forward, Lat Mayen, has missed six games and is nursing a bone bruise that limited him to four minutes against Baylor.
And don’t forget that right before Christmas, forward Angus McWilliam — who graduated early from his high school in New Zealand and took the bother of flying to Fort Worth immediately after to enroll early at TCU last January and spend a semester practicing — also left the team, apparently to transfer, having appeared in only two games, nursing a concussion for much of the time. Dixon did say McWilliam remains on campus, so maybe there’s still a chance something works out? Regardless, he wasn’t in the gym Saturday.
With all that as a backdrop, the Frogs and what amounted to a two-man bench still managed to spend 30 minutes blowing out Baylor and 10 minutes hanging on for an 85-81 victory. Through the adversity of weekly, and sometimes daily, personnel questions, Dixon and squad are still 12-1 and operating as one of the best passing and scoring teams in the country, off on the right foot in conference.
It’s not ideal, but roster uncertainty — to some degree — might be life for the Frogs going forward. Injuries you can’t plan for. But transfers stand to become more of a risk as Dixon wanders into deeper recruiting waters than TCU is used to. The higher the caliber of recruit, after all, the greater the expectation of major minutes right away.
Dixon shrugged. He’s a big boy. Stuff happens, and he’s seen it.
“We’ve kind of been like that all off-season and regular season,” he said. “It’s just what it is. It’s not ideal. But we’ve won nine games in a row doing it this way. We’re going to find a way. We’ll find a way, and we’re going to keep battling.”
Have to. Kansas is up next, on Wednesday at their place, then Oklahoma on Saturday, also away.
But as long as Fisher is out and until Mayen is full-go and Alok returns to action, the Frogs are basically a seven-man team — a good seven-man team, yes. But one that has to go 18 games in the Big 12, plus a non-conference contest against another Power Five team, Florida.
“We’re fine,” Dixon said. “There’s things going on. Lat’s coming back. We’ve seen him practicing better and better. We really feel he’s going to be a good player for us. We thought he was going to be an impact guy for us this year, but obviously we’ve had to adjust because of the injury.”
Obviously. It’s a game of adjustments. It’s a long year, and stuff happens. Just remember to check your phone.
