After the Shock: What TCU Must Do to Bounce Back From New Orleans Loss

TCU’s season started with a gut punch. A 78-74 loss at home to New Orleans is no doubt an inexcusable result for the program and one of the worst in the Jamie Dixon era.

It is even more frustrating for Frog fans because many of the same issues from previous years reappeared right when it seemed like they had been addressed.

TCU was outrebounded 39 to 28 by the Privateers, shot 3-27 from three, and never found a consistent defensive rhythm.

This comes just over a week after the Frogs beat Texas by 19 in a secret scrimmage when excitement for this team was real. So the questions are, where does TCU go from here, and how can they maintain confidence within the fanbase this season?

Dixon emphasized rebounding postgame. While the talent at the big spot coming into the year was unproven, there was legitimate optimism. This game showed how quickly college basketball can flip.

Malick Diallo, Xavier Edmonds, and Vianney Salatchoum were expected to bring depth to the center position. Salatchoum was ruled out with illness, and Diallo left after seven minutes with a knee injury.

Pair that with Jace Posey being out, who is one of the team’s best rebounders, and Edmonds in foul trouble, and it forced David Punch to play the five, something he had not done all offseason. Punch adjusted well with 19 points and eight rebounds, one of the clear silver linings, but it still was not enough to win the boards.

The three-point shooting numbers were even more surprising. TCU attacked this problem in the portal, adding multiple shooters along with two more in the recruiting class. The newcomers shot a combined 1-20 from deep with questionable shots and no offensive flow.

In TCU’s exhibition and scrimmage, the Frogs went 18-47 for 38.3 percent from deep. That makes this result even more frustrating. While they will not shoot this poorly all season, it is alarming that they could not find even a little rhythm on night one.

Regardless, there is no excuse to lose to a New Orleans team that entered the day ranked No. 297 in KenPom and was coming off a 4-27 season. The Frogs have NCAA Tournament aspirations, and their standard should be to never even risk a buy game loss.

𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗘 UNO 78 TCU 74 ‼‼‼‼‼‼‼@BensonColeton & @JakevionBuckley make their FTs down the stretch and we have our first win against a P4 school since 2017, and a Big 12 school since 2007!

Colton with 26pts, 6reb.
Jay with 11pts, 9ast#NOLAsTeam ⚔ pic.twitter.com/ExieycUBph
— New Orleans Men’s Basketball (@PrivateersHoops) November 4, 2025

Now the pressure for this season has turned up. TCU is facing scrutiny from the media and fans, and the only way to change the narrative is to win.

The good news is that Jamie Dixon built a non-conference schedule that, combined with the Big 12 grind, provides countless opportunities for signature wins, which could allow this to become a footnote by March.

In 2023, TCU dropped a buy game to Northwestern State in November, which was their last non-conference home loss before Monday, before becoming a six-seed and was a three-point Gonzaga loss from the Sweet 16.

There are issues to fix, but there is still so much of this story left to write in the 2025-2026 season. The urgency has simply increased, and the margin for error has tightened.

That 2023 team won the rest of their non-conference games after the buy game loss. This team has a tougher slate, but they still need to pick off big wins to mask this result.

TCU returns home to host Saint Francis on Thursday and Lamar next week before No. 7 Michigan enters Schollmaier Arena next Friday. If there is a way to get this taste out of their mouth quickly, it is beating a team like that.

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