Drew’s Desk: TCU Women’s Basketball wins the Big 12 Tournament

TCU took down Colorado, West Virginia, and Baylor on their way to the championship.

TCU Women’s Basketball will not have to share their Big 12 Champs honors this season as they went 3-0 in the conference tournament to take home the Big 12 Tournament Championship. The Frogs overcame a hot shooting night from Colorado to take down the Buffaloes 69-62, beat West Virginia 71-65 in the semifinals, and beat Baylor for the third time this season in the championship by a score of 64-59. With the Big 12 tournament win, the Frogs should be announced as a two seed on selection Sunday and will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

Domination

Dominant is the only way to describe how the Frogs have closed out Big 12 conference play and the conference tournament. After losing on the road to Kansas State, it looked like the Frogs were going to need to run the table to have a chance at a Big 12 regular season championship, and run the table they did, winning seven straight conference games to finish first in the Big 12 for the first time in program history. After an emotional win on the road at Baylor to close out the regular season, the Frogs could have come out cold in the Big 12 tournament and been satisfied with regular season champions. However, that was not in the cards for Mark Campbell and TCU as they rattled off another three wins to take home the tournament championship as well. TCU left no doubt as to who the best team in the conference is and continued the positive momentum heading into the NCAA Tournament. The Frogs have now won ten straight games and are playing their best basketball at the right time as Selection Sunday and March Madness are right around the corner.

Hot shooting

In the regular season championship clinching game against Baylor, TCU found a way to win ugly, surviving a defensive battle in Waco to win 51-48. In the Big 12 Tournament, the Frogs won differently, with excellent offensive performances. Against Colorado, the Frogs shot an impressive 43.5% from three and collected 16 assists as a team. In the game against West Virginia, the Frogs put up 71 points on 48.1% shooting from the field. In the championship round against Baylor, TCU did a great job of drawing contact and getting to the line and knocked down 21 of 23 free throws, good for 91.3% from the line as a team. The Frogs have a great defense and can win low-scoring games, but the biggest strength of this TCU team is the ability to score with anyone in the country.

Closing out wins

In the championship game against Baylor, TCU looked like by far the better team until roughly one minute left in the game. For the third time this season, TCU held a solid lead against Baylor heading into the final minute but struggled to inbound the ball against a man-to-man press defense, letting the Bears back into the game. The issue for the Frogs was not making free throws, but getting the ball inbounded so that the opposing team would have to foul and send TCU to the free throw line. Both the players and coaches need to address this issue with more creative inbounds plays and more decisive decision making from the inbounder. TCU has wasted timeouts, picked up five second violations, and turned the ball over multiple times in the last minute of their three games against Baylor. There will be close games played in March Madness and TCU needs to be more prepared to beat a man-to-man press to close out wins.

Highlight of the Week

Dagger from HVL to clinch the double Big 12 Championship.

Looking Ahead

The Frogs now await their first round matchup to be announced on Selection Sunday, March 16th at 7:00 pm.