FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU has retired the No. 1 jersey of Desmond Bane, the standout guard who helped lead the Horned Frogs to their first NCAA tournament in 20 years in 2018 the season after they won the NIT championship when he was a freshman.
Bane, now in his fifth season with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, was honored at halftime of TCU’s game Tuesday night against Texas Tech. He is the sixth Horned Frogs player to have his jersey retired, and it came a year after Kenrich Williams‘ No. 34 was retired.
Williams, now with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, and Bane were teammates when TCU won the 2017 NIT, the program’s first postseason championship. Williams was a senior and Bane a sophomore when the Frogs went to the NCAA tournament the next season, their first since 1998.
Bane was a first-team AP All-Big 12 selection as a senior in 2020, when he averaged 16.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists. He is TCU’s career leader with 249 made 3-pointers, 84 wins and 141 games played, while ranking third with 1,784 points and 659 field goals.
Kurt Thomas in 1995 was TCU’s only first-round NBA draft pick until Bane got selected in the first round in 2020.