TCU’s upset over Ohio State is a win for Coach P’s resume amid coaching speculation

TCU entered their first-round matchup against Ohio State as the slightly lower seed, but with a better record and a decent chance of pulling out the upset. 

The Horned Frogs jumped out to an early lead and held steady for most of the first half. Ohio State came out of halftime and pulled back into the game. However, TCU would go on to win by a slim 66-64 margin.

Both teams used their starters efficiently. Ohio State had all five in double figures. The bulk of TCU’s output came from Xavier Edmonds, David Punch and Micah Robinson. Neither team shot the ball all that well, but TCU was almost 40% from three.

The team stats are also less than dominant. TCU had the leading scorer, leading rebounder but not the leader for assists. The teams almost split the team stats. TCU had 3pt %, rebounds, time with the lead and largest lead. However, Ohio St was far better from the free throw line and only marginally better from the field.

A good, quality for TCU. On the level of upsets, a nine over an eight won’t move the needle. There is any interesting and recently newsworthy parallel to draw though.

Coach P’s Privateers convincingly beat TCU

Percy Miller (formerly Master P) is a coach and president of basketball operations for the University of New Orleans. His name has surfaced as a possible and realistic head coaching candidate, if he were to leave UNO.

Coach P took over the Basketball Operations following a 4-27 season. Despite scandal and uncertainty in the years just prior to his arrival, the Privateers finished the 2025-26 regular season with 15 wins overall and a winning record in the conference. Before all of that, UNO played TCU.

The result of that TCU game was almost completely one-sided. Unlike TCU’s game vs Ohio State, TCU was never in a position to win the UNO game. The 78-74 Privateers winning score does not tell the full story.

TCU only held a lead for exactly 2 minutes and thirty seconds. It was the first 2 minutes and 30 seconds of the game. After that, New Orleans would not concede the rest of the way. Speaking of leads, TCU’s largest lead was two while UNO’s biggest lead was 21.

Even the player stats were relatively one-sided. New Orleans lead the game in individual points, rebounds and assists. TCU did not win the teams stats either.

New Orleans won FG% by +10, the 3pt % by +28, FT% by  +6 and rebounding by +10. The only team stat TCU won was turnovers.   

The New Orleans Privateers are not a Power 4 program and will widely be viewed as such. However, Coach P’s team walked into TCU’s Schollmaier Arena and played the role of David to TCU’s Goliath and won.

The win is big for TCU but bigger for UNO

TCU did not finish the year in the AP top 25, but they did register No. 48 on the Basketball Power Index. New Orleans was far behind TCU in either of those rankings. Yet on that day, Coach P’s team took the fight to TCU and won.

TCU advancing is a good moment for their program. Coach P beating that same team with a rebuilt roster, following a scandal and only 4 wins the year before.

More: Percy 'Master P' Miller reportedly interested in Arizona State job

While there is little public information of TCU’s basketball budget, we do know that their entire athletic department’s budget is about $150M. Compared to the budget for the University of New Orleans basketball budget of barely $250k. Most, if not all of which came directly from Coach P.

Percy Miller or “Coach P” has earned head coaching consideration above the level he is currently at. This idea is not likely to fade any time soon. With changes in the game, Coach P has proven himself in short order to be a worthy option. Especially considering how completely his team handled TCU. A tournament team that is advancing to the second round.

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