TCU forward David Punch plans to enter NCAA Transfer Portal

TCU forward and leading scorer David Punch (William Purnell-Imagn Images)

TCU leading scorer David Punch plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, according to On3’s Joe Tipton. Punch, a sophomore power forward, will have two years of eligibility remaining wherever he lands.

The 6-foot-7 Punch led the Horned Frogs in multiple categories while starting all 34 games this past season, where he averaged a team-high 14.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game in 2025-26. Punch started 61 of the 66 games he played the past two seasons at TCU, averaging 10.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, 1.3 assists and 0.9 steals during his time in Forth Worth.

If this was his last season at TCU, Punch saved his best ball for the postseason, including averaging 25 points on 58.6% shooting to go along with 8.5 rebounds and three blocks in two Big 12 Tournament games in mid-March. He also produced a double-double with 16 points and a team-high 13 rebounds in TCU’s 66-64 win over eighth-seeded Ohio State in their Round of 64 game in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.

Punch signed with TCU as a four-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle out of Harker Heights (Killeen, Texas), where he was rated as the No. 6 player in Texas, No. 18 power forward in the class, and No. 108 player overall, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted composite of the three major media recruiting services.

Punch is known as a physical presence willing to put his body on the line, as evidenced by the sophomore getting bloodied in TCU’s second-round NCAA Tournament game against Duke, which ended the Horned Frogs’ season in a 81-58 loss.

TCU’s David Punch bloodied after elbow to face from Cam Boozer, flagrant foul called

Punch took a gnarly shot to the face from Duke star forward Cameron Boozer in the first half of the NCAA Tournament second-round game March 21. Punch, who was bloodied and helped to the locker room by trainers, returned to the game just before halftime but struggled to repeat his first-round effort.

For the action, Boozer was assessed a Flagrant 1. Prior to suffering the injury, Punch had two points and one rebound in 13 minutes of action. But despite finishing with 30 minutes of action, Punch was held to just four points on 1-of-10 shooting in the 81-58 loss.

“You saw him bleeding profusely and he was helped to the locker room,” CBS’ Tracy Wolfson said at the time. “He couldn’t really walk under his own power because he was holding that towel directly over his face. He went in there for a few minutes, and they tended to him. He has a plug in that nostril. I was given the okay and was told he’s okay to go back in.”