TCU Hoops Heads to Australia

TCU will be leaving on a jet plane tomorrow, heading on a 16 hour flight that will take them to the other side of the world, where they will play five games against a myriad of competition from across the country.

With an itinerary that stretches from the departure date of August 5th to their return on the 16th, the Frogs will get in plenty of hoops as well as time to be tourists, seeing sites from across the country.

Their first full day finds them in Sydney, where they will take on the Savannah Prid at Kevin Betts Stadium. The game tips off at 5am CST on August 8th (set your alarms!) and will be the first ever between a major Division I American college team and a South Sudanese Australian founded club in Australia. The second of the team’s games in Sydney will find them matching up with the Australian Institute of Sport’s Centre of Excellence (COE), the program that boasts NBA players Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Andrew Bogut, Aron Baynes, Dante Exum, and Ben Simmons as graduates. That game is set for another 5am tip on August 10th, at the Minto Indoor Sports Centre.

After their pair of matches in Sydney, the Frog party will travel to Melbourne for a trio of matchups. Game one is set for August 12th against the Melbourne All-Stars at 2:30am - after party, anyone? - and features some of the best professional players in Australia. A day later, the Frogs face the Longhorns - so we know what that result will be - at the perfectly reasonable hour of 11pm. The final game of the five match tour will take place on August 15th, as the Frogs take on the Knox Raiders at 5am. They’ll head back a day later.

It won’t be all work and no play for TCU on this special excursion, as they will take time out of their schedule to visit some of the famous landmarks in Australia, including the Sydney Opra House, Melbourne Zoo, the Queen Victoria Market, as well as taking in an Australian Football game.

Additional information provided by TCU:

TCU will play under the rules set by the International Basketball Federation, more commonly known as FIBA. The games will consist of four 10-minute periods with the shot clock set at 24 seconds. Other major differences between FIBA and the NCAA include having only eight seconds to advance the ball out of the back court, timeouts are only called by the head coach and the ball can be touched on or above the cylinder.

The primary way to stay up-do-date with the Frogs “Down Under” is to follow the team on Twitter (@TCUBasketball) and the team’s “Australia Central” website, www.GoFrogs.com/FrogsDownUnder. The team will also be active on Snapchat at “TCUAthletics.” For game action, any livestats or live streaming links will be tweeted out @TCUBasketball and a recap of each game can be found on GoFrogs.com. Follow the action by searching the hashtag, #FrogsDownUnder on Twitter.

Best of luck to our TCU mates as they throw another shrimp on the barbie and try to avoid being eaten by dingos. Go Frogs!