TCU Women's Basketball: WBIT Preview Versus North Texas
TCU Women’s basketball will start postseason play Thursday in the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT) against North Texas. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. from Schollmaier Arena.
The No. 3-seeded Horned Frogs received an at-large bid to the 32-team field following a 20-win season (20-11 overall, 6-11 Big 12), a 12-game improvement over last year, under first year head coach Mark Campbell. This is TCU’s 17th overall postseason tournament appearance and first since reaching the WNIT semifinals following the 2018-19 season. It will also mark the first time the Horned Frogs have played the Mean Green in 21 years.
North Texas is making its sixth postseason appearance in program history after posting a 23-8 record (13-5 American Athletic Conference), earning a share of the regular season conference title and setting 11 school records, including single season wins, regular season wins and total team points.
About the WBIT
The WBIT is a new NCAA-sponsored postseason tournament, equivalent to the men’s NIT, and viewed as the second-best postseason option in women’s college basketball.
Every round of the WBIT except the Final Four and championship will be played on campus sites. Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis will host the final two rounds on April 1 and 3. The top half of the field received seeds and the remaining 16 teams were placed by the committee based on natural areas of interest.
The winner of TCU-North Texas will face either No. 2 seed Mississippi State or No. 7 seed Georgia Tech on March 24.
Una Jovanovic and the TCU women's basketball team will play North Texas in the opening round of the WBIT.
Brian McLean/KillerFrogs
Scouting North Texas
North Texas’ historic regular season culminated with the program’s first conference title since 1986. The Mean Green then lost 61-59 to Rice in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament. A three-point attempt rimmed out at the buzzer as the Mean Green dropped a game that featured six ties and eight lead changes.
Guard Dyani Robinson scored a team-high 15 points while forward Tommisha Lampkin added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Forward DesiRay Kernal and guard Desiree Wooten also broke double-digit scoring.
Kernal led the Mean Green with 16.4 points per game this season and shot 39.2% from three-point range. Lampkin averaged 15.5 points and 7.7 rebounds. Kernal and Lampkin earned All-AAC First Team Honors and Robinson earned AAC Sixth Player of the Year honors. Kernal was also named Co-Newcomer of the Year and head coach Jason Burton was tabbed Coach of the Year.
The Mean Green held opponents to 64 points per game while scoring a conference-best 75 points. North Texas also ranked first among AAC teams in field goal percentage (46.7%) and second in field goal defense (37.7%).
TCU’s three-point shooting will be put to the test against North Texas, the nation’s 12th-ranked three-point defense. The Mean Green allowed 189 three-pointers, about 6 per game, on 26.6% shooting. Meanwhile, the Horned Frogs make 9.5 threes per game (8th nationally) on 36.3% shooting. TCU is 15-4 when hitting at least nine 3-pointers.
Scouting TCU
Last time out, the Horned Frogs lost to then No. 19 Oklahoma 69-53 in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals. A slow offensive start saw TCU fall behind 16-6 at the end of the first quarter. Shooting remained an issue throughout the game, as TCU made less than 30% of its attempts from the field.
Guard Madison Conner and center Sedona Prince broke double-digit scoring with 19 and 14 points respectively. Forward Aaliyah Roberson dominated the glass with a career-high 14 rebounds.
The Horned Frogs rotation remained tight throughout both Big 12 tournament games with six players getting on the court. Guard Sydney Harris came off the bench and went a combined 1-of-8 from the field in the tournament. Harris had hit at least 2 three-pointers in 10 straight games before hitting a cold snap over the last four games (2-of-20). Getting Harris going again will be help the Horned Frogs find postseason success.
Conner and Prince remain crucial pieces, as the duo has scored 10 or more points in 19 of their 20 shared outings. Guard Una Jovanovic, who scored a team-high 22 points in the second-round win over Oklahoma State, has improved her assist-to-turnover ratio to 2.33 while guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu continually gives the Horned Frogs a boost on both sides of the ball with hustle plays, rebounding and scoring.
Staying sharp on defense is another important key to victory for the Horned Frogs. TCU has held 25 of 31 opponents below their season scoring average, forced five of its last seven opponents to shoot below 40% and held 17 of 19 opponents under 70 points inside Schollmaier Arena.
How to Watch and Listen: UNT V. TCU
- Tipoff – 6:30 p.m. CT, Thursday, March 21
- Television – ESPN+
- Ron Thulin – Play-by Play
- Jada Curtis - Analyst
- Radio – 88.7 KTCU FM
- Chris Blake – Play-by-Play
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