TCU Women's Basketball: Notre Dame Preview

In Birmingham, Alabama, the TCU Horned Frogs will play in the Sweet 16 for the first time in the history of men's or women's programs. This season has been full of first-time achievements, such as wins in a season, players being named All-Americans, and attendance records, yet their opponent in this one will not be a first-time opponent. The Frogs will take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the second time this season, with the first resulting in a 78-68 TCU win, at the Grand Cayman classic back on November 29th.

The Irish are bolstered by arguably the best backcourt in the country, which consists of Olivia Miles, Hannah Hidalgo, and Sonia Citron. Hidalgo (24.1), Miles (15.5), and Citron (14.2) account for 63% of their teams' average points per game, with Hilado leading the team in points per game by nearly a 10-point margin. Miles is the team's primary passing facilitator, pacing the team with 194 assists on the season, 80 more than her next closest team-mate. Liatu King, the Irish forward, is leading the team with 10.4 rebounds per game and is efficient in her shooting with a 55% field-goal percentage.

Notre Dame also plays stingy defense against its high-powered offense, averaging 11.6 steals per game. Hidalgo leads the way with just over three per game, which is good for fourth nationally. They hold opponents to shooting 36% from the floor against them and win by an average margin of nearly 24 points. Complimentary to their defense, and much to the Horned Frogs dismay, the Irish limit their opponents to shooting 27% from beyond the arc and only 5.4 made three-pointers per game.

Frog Focus

1. Started from the Bottom

TCU has the largest year-over-win improvement of the last two years at the Power Four level of 25 games.

2. Living Beyond the Arc

The Frogs are the only team in the nation that is in the top 10 in total 3-pointers, 3-point percentage, and 3-pointers per game.

3. the Big Three

Hailey Van Lith (17.7 ppg), Madison Conner (14.6 ppg), and Sedona Prince (17.5 ppg) are the third highest scoring trio in the country.

4. Nails in the Second Half

Over their 12-game winning streak, the Frogs have trailed for 72 seconds in the second halves of games.

Comparison

Notre Dame		TCU
85.1	Points Per Game	77.7
49.0	Field Goal %	47.9
39.3	3-Point Field Goal %	38.0
77.5	Free Throw %	75.0
42.9	Rebounds Per Game	38.2
17.6	Assist Per Game	18.9
15.1	Turnovers Per Game	12.1
11.6	Steals Per Game	5.9
5.4	Blocks Per Game	5.8

Follow TCU On SI on X as our team is in Birmingham bringing you live updates of the Sweet 16.