TCU hoops open season with a bang with Schollmaier Live

TCU kicked off its upcoming basketball season with a bang as the program hosted the inaugural Schollmaier Live on Friday night.

In a first for the program, the Horned Frogs had musical guest Ludcaris entertain fans and students after both the men’s and women’s basketball team were introduced.

The Horned Frogs went through a series of competitions before bringing out the Fast ‘N Furious actor and Grammy winner.

Chuck O’Bannon and Tomi Taiwo won the 3-point challenge. Bella Cravens, Patricia Wilson, Roxane Makolo and Emily Fisher won the hot shot competition over the men’s squad of Eddie Lampkin, Damion Baugh, Micah Peavy and Emmanuel Miller. Darius Ford won the knockout challenge.

The biggest highlight came when TCU big Souleymane Doumbia proposed to his girlfriend with his daughter in his arms.

The event was designed to continue to build off the momentum established by the men’s basketball team advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2021.

Most programs across the country have some type of Midnight Madness event with a special guest and TCU finally joined the ranks with some of their other Big 12 league mates.

There’s plenty of positive momentum around both squads as the men will enter the season ranked No. 14, the highest preseason ranking in program history. The roster includes Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Mike Miles Jr. who earned some of the loudest cheers during player introductions on Friday night.

“They’re working hard, they’ve done a great job. They had a scrimmage (vs. Alabama) that everybody is talking about and they’ve been playing well,” Jamie Dixon said to the crowd.

The women are coming off a tough season with just six victories, but Raegan Pebley is optimistic that a new core of players will help get TCU back to where it was pre-COVID. The Horned Frogs had three straight 20-win seasons, but have just 16 total the last two seasons.

Among the players Pebley is most excited about is Mississippi State transfer Knisha Godfrey, who joined the program midway through last season. A new core means a new style of play which Pebley can’t wait for the Fort Worth crowd to see.

“Did y’all like that Flying T logo you saw last night?” Pebley asked the crowd, referring to the vintage TCU logo that is popular among fans. “Well we want to have a Flying T feel to how we play. Fast, up the court, spread that ball with a lot of scorers. We love the 3-ball, we want to be able to turn people over and get the ball up and down the court quick.”

The men have an exhibition against Paul Quinn on Oct. 30 and open the season Nov. 7 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The women open the season on Nov. 7 at noon against Lipscomb.