Ohio State men's basketball a No. 8 seed in NCAA Tournament, will face TCU on Thursday: What you need to know

The Buckeyes are opposite No. 1 seed Duke in Greenville, S.C.

The Ohio State men’s basketball team will play TCU on Thursday in the NCAA Tournament. (Photo courtesy of Ohio State)

COLUMBUS — Ohio State men’s basketball is heading South for the NCAA Tournament, as the Buckeyes will face TCU in Greenville, S.C., on Thursday.

As expected, Ohio State is in the 8-9 game as an 8 seed against the Horned Frogs. They are opposite the overall No. 1 seed for the entire tournament in Duke.

• The Buckeyes will play the first game of the tournament at 12:15 pm on Thursday. The game will be on CBS with the No. 1 crew of Ian Eagle, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson.

• Ohio State has played TCU four times before and won every matchup, but the last one came in 1970.

• TCU finished 22-11 this season, and went 11-7 in the Big 12 to finish sixth in that conference. The Horned Frogs didn’t make the tournament last season, but made it the previous three years. They are coached by Jamie Dixon, who is in Year 10 after previously coaching at Pitt.

• TCU is balanced, with seven players who play between 21 and 32 minutes per game, with all seven of them averaging between 8 and 15 points per game. The leading scorer is 6-foot-7 sophomore forward David Punch. Xavier Edmonds was a third-team All-Big 12 pick as a 6-8 third-year transfer. Point guard Brock Harding is an Iowa transfer and averages 8 points and 6 assists.

• While Ohio State is 4-11 in Quad 1 games, TCU is 6-7. That includes wins over Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa State, Baylor and Texas Tech. Their good can be very good.

• TCU won 9 of its last 10 before losing to Kansas by 5 in a Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal. So this is a battle of two teams that finished strong.

• The Buckeyes are in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022. If you want to start dreaming about a run, Ohio State hasn’t made the Sweet 16 since 2013. The Buckeyes are 4-6 in the tournament since then.

• Ohio State will play in an 8-9 game for the fifth time. The last was in 2009, when the Buckeyes were the 8 seed and lost in overtime to Siena, who was coached by future Iowa coach Fran McCaffery.

The other three times were a 1990 win over Providence in overtime as the 8 seed; a 1987 win over Kentucky as the 9 seed; and a 1982 loss to James Madison as the 8 seed.