Mark Campbell and TCU Women’s Basketball are now back-to-back undisputed regular season champions of the Big 12 conference as the Frogs clinched the title on Sunday with a 65-53 win at home over Baylor. TCU hosted College Gameday for a basketball game for the first time in school history and extended their winning streak against the Bears to five games. The winning streak over Baylor becomes more impressive considering three of the five wins have clinched conference titles for the Frogs (last year’s
regular season title, last year’s tournament title, and this year’s regular season title). TCU finished the regular season with an impressive record of 27-4 and went undefeated at home for the second straight season. The job Mark Campbell has done to turn TCU Women’s Basketball around has been incredible to watch. The Frogs have had an incredible season already with what should be a very exciting and hopefully long postseason run still to come.
Marta Suarez played an excellent game for the Horned Frogs, finishing with 21 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Suarez was red hot from beyond the arc, knocking down five of six attempts from deep. Suarez’s height and quick release give her the ability to knock down contested jumpers and bail TCU out of bad possessions with tough shots at the end of the shot clock. The energy and passion Suarez plays with has been a huge part of TCU’s success down the stretch this season and her leadership will be very important for the Frogs in the postseason. Big 12 Player of the Year Olivia Miles scored an efficient 19 points against Baylor to go along with nine rebounds, three assists and one steal. Miles shot 50% from the field against the Bears and moved the ball well when Baylor sent double teams her way. Taylor Bigby was the third Frog in double figures with 12 points along with one rebound, one assist, and one steal. Bigby is making over 36% of her threes this season and does a great job on the defensive end of the floor as a very important role player for the Frogs. While Clara Silva and Kennedy Basham did not have the biggest games on the stat sheet, they both had a big impact in the win with excellent rim protection and defense against Baylor ball handlers in the pick-and-roll. The Bears managed just 12 points in the paint as a team and could not generate consistent open shots on offense thanks in large part to the effort from Silva and Basham in the paint.
TCU did not have their best shooting game but still had a solid night on the offensive end, making 40% of their shots from the field and 35% of their shots from three as a team. The Frogs did a good job getting to the free throw line and converting, knocking down 15 of 18 shots from the stripe as a team. One thing to work on for TCU is how ball handlers respond to opposing defenses blitzing ball screens. Baylor switched their pick-and-roll coverage at halftime to be more aggressive and it resulted in TCU turning the ball over eight times in the third quarter alone and 18 times in the game. TCU needs to better prepare for aggressive ball screen coverage as teams will look to get the ball out of Olivia Miles’s hands this postseason. One way to combat this coverage is to have Marta Suarez set screens then pop to the three point line for an open look. Help defense typically starts in the paint in these defenses meaning the screener can get open looks from three point range. Suarez is more than capable of knocking those shots down and the TCU offense should be able to take advantage of that pick-and-roll coverage.
TCU was excellent defensively on Sunday, holding Baylor to 34% shooting from the field and just 19% shooting from three point range. The Frogs did a great job cutting off passing lanes, forcing 16 Baylor turnovers compared to just 12 Baylor assists. TCU was sound on the defensive glass, letting up just eight offensive rebounds all game.
With the regular season coming to an end, the Frogs will now look to win their fourth Big 12 title in two years at the Big 12 Conference Tournament in Kansas City this week. As the one seed, TCU received a double bye and will face off against the winner of BYU and Utah on Friday at 1:30 pm.
