Jamie Dixon reacts to early foul disparity vs. Duke, says TCU must deal with 'challenge'

Through the first 12 minutes of Saturday’s NCAA Tournament game against Duke, TCU found itself in foul trouble. The Horned Frogs had nine fouls through the early going, and head coach Jamie Dixon said they need to deal with the “challenge.”

At the under-8 media timeout, TCU had nine fouls as a team while Duke had four. CBS’ Tracy Wolfson told Dixon about that disparity and he laughed when he heard the exact number of whistles between the two teams.

Then, Dixon said TCU has to fight through it. He said the Horned Frogs can handle the situation and adjust accordingly throughout the matchup against top-seeded Duke.

.@TCUBasketball coach Jamie Dixon spoke with @tracywolfson about the nine early fouls on the Horned Frogs pic.twitter.com/7PUpxbuyWA

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 21, 2026

“You can’t say the numbers,” Dixon said as he started laughing. “… Obviously, it’s a challenge. But we’ve got to fight through it. We will. We will.”

Duke was dealing with some injury concerns heading into Saturday’s second-round game, which had a spot in the Sweet Sixteen on the line. Notably, forward Patrick Ngongba’s status was in question as he deals with an injury, though he was available off the bench after Jon Scheyer opted not to start him out of precaution.

When asked whether that impacted his team’s prep, Jamie Dixon said TCU had to focus on what lied ahead and be ready for anything. He noted the amount of talent Duke brings even with key players, such as Ngongba and Caleb Foster, dealing with injuries. If Ngongba played, Dixon said the Horned Frogs would adapt accordingly.

“We focus on ourselves more than anything, but they’ve got good players no matter how – they’ve got a lot of good players,” Dixon told reporters Saturday. “If he plays, I don’t know how much he’ll play. We’re not changing our – if he plays, he plays, I guess. That’s not going to affect us too much, I think. He’s a good player, but they have too many other good players to focus on one. We’ll stay focused on us and then them as a team.”

The first half of Saturday’s game turned into a close one as Duke held a 38-34 lead at halftime. Ngongba wound up playing seven of the first 20 minutes off the bench, scoring four points and two rebounds in that time. TCU shot 41.9% from the field as Xavier Edmonds led the charge with 12 points. Across the final 7:34 of the first half, the Horned Frogs committed three more fouls.