Killer Frogs

Who Is Key to TCU Women’s Basketball’s Future Success?

With the postseason approaching, TCU women's basketball is beginning to show which pieces will define its future success.
Tom Burke|
On Assignment, Brian McLean for KillerFrogs.com

There are many superlatives that can be used to describe this season’s TCU women’s basketball
team. For example, the Frogs are 21-4 (9-3 Big 12), ranked 17th in the country, tied for third place in the Big 12 Conference, and have contributed 15 consecutive home wins to the program-record 39 straight wins in the Horned Frogs’ on-campus Schollmaier Arena.

One question, however, has haunted this team: Is it as good as last year’s team, which went 34-4, including 21-0 at home, won a regular-season Big 12 championship and a Big 12 Tournament championship, went to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Championship Tournament and finished as the sixth-ranked team in the country?

As so many TCU fans have feared over the last month or so, the answer to that question, unfortunately, is a resounding “No,” following a startling 80-79 loss at Colorado on Sunday, February 8.

The Frogs have lost three of their last six games. They have dropped in the Big 12 standings from a first-place tie with Baylor to a third-place tie with Texas Tech. The Frogs and Red Raiders have 9-3 conference records. Baylor is in first place with a 10-2 conference record. West Virginia is in second place with a 10-3 conference record.

The loss to Colorado almost assuredly will mean TCU will not be one of the top 16 seeds in this season’s NCAA Women’s Championship Tournament. That’s because the Frogs face a grueling, regular-season-ending stretch of conference games, including a home-and-away series against No. 12 Baylor, home games against No. 19 West Virginia and Iowa State, and away games at Houston and Cincinnati.

The Frogs have no margin for error, but with those games ahead of them, at least one, maybe two, and possibly even three more losses loom for the Horned Frogs before the regular season concludes.

That’s unfortunate, because seeding matters in the women’s championship tournament. The top 16 seeds (ranked 1-4 in each of the four quadrants) host first- and second-round games at their home arenas, while the remaining seeds have to play on the road.

TCU will be hard-pressed to beat Iowa State and Baylor, once, much less twice. As such, the Frogs must significantly raise their level of play if they hope to have any chance of having an elite season.

It would be simpler and more reassuring if TCU only needed to improve in one or two areas, but there are glaring deficiencies throughout the team and within the coaching staff that have not been at the top of their game in the Horned Frogs’ close losses.

TCU Women's Basketball vs OSU, #7 Marta Suarez
On Assignment, Brian McLean for KillerFrogs.com

One particular area of improvement, perhaps, could be instrumental in producing future success for the team: Further offensive and defensive consistency from graduate student forward Marta Suarez.

For the season, Suarez is averaging 15.7 points per game and shooting 35.3 percent from 3-point range. But until TCU’s 90-45 win over Houston on February 4, Suarez had been in a shooting slump.

In the nine games prior to the Houston game, during which TCU went 7-2, with losses to Utah and Ohio State, Suarez averaged 10.7 points per game. She shot only 33 percent, making 35 of 106 field-goal attempts, including just nine of 47 three-pointers (19 percent).

In TCU’s 51-50 win at West Virginia, Suarez connected on only 4-of-19 field goals, including 1-of-6 three-pointers. The one three-pointer, however, was big. It was the winning basket, coming at the game-ending buzzer.

TCU Women's Basketball vs OSU
On Assignment, Brian McLean for KillerFrogs.com

In TCU’s loss at Utah, Suarez scored 23 points, but only was 8-of-21 on field-goal attempts, including 4-of-13 on three pointers.

In the Frogs’ loss to Ohio State in the Coretta Scott King Classic in Newark, New Jersey, Suarez scored two points. She was 1-of-6 on field-goal attempts, including 0-for-4 on three-pointers.

Against Houston, Suarez notched her second consecutive double-double and sixth of the season with 24 points and 10 rebounds. She connected on 10-of-17 shots against the Cougars, including 3-of-5 three-pointers, which were her most three-pointers since January 3.

In the loss to Colorado, which followed the win over Houston, Suarez scored 20 points. She made 8-of-14 shots, including 1-of-4 three-pointers. Unfortunately, Suarez fouled out of the game with 4:02 left and couldn’t be a deciding factor down the stretch against the Buffaloes.

TCU Women's Basketball vs OSU, #7 Marta Suarez
On Assignment, Brian McLean for KillerFrogs.com

TCU scored a paltry 12 points in the final quarter, in which Clara Silva also fouled out. With TCU leading by two points in the final seconds of the game, Silva’s replacement, Kenedy Basham, inexplicably gave up an and-one opportunity to Colorado’s Jade Masogayo that resulted in the game-winning basket and free throw for the Buffaloes.

The Frogs need shooting accuracy and scoring consistency from Suarez. The offense provided by her and graduate guard Olivia Miles is one of the reasons for TCU’s success this season.

Suarez and Miles are the highest-scoring duo in the Big 12, averaging a combined 34.9 points per game. Five times, they both finished with 20 points and 5 rebounds, which leads the NCAA. They are the only pair of teammates in the country averaging 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2 assists per game. Their scoring is one of the positives that offsets Miles’ turnovers and lack of defense and leadership.

But during the season’s final games, TCU needs more than just shooting accuracy and scoring from Suarez. The team also needs her defense and physicality, especially against upcoming opponents that have legitimate size and bulk in the paint, with which Silva and Basham will not be able to deal with, based on past performances, including in the loss to Colorado.

Furthermore, Suarez is the one person on the team who can come the closest to cloning herself as Hailey Van Lith and willing TCU to victory, as Van Lith so often did last season through her determination and toughness.

“We had a hard time handling her (Suarez) physically,” Houston coach Matthew Mitchell said after his team was soundly defeated by the Frogs. “She played a great game. She really hustled and got herself in positions where she could have success. She’s a really good player, and that makes them very tough to guard.”

Most prominent among the opposing players TCU will confront over the closing stretch of games is Iowa State’s Audi Crooks. She has size, bulk, strength, and immense talent in the paint.

Crooks is the nation's leading scorer, averaging about 26 points per game and shooting over 67 percent from the field. She has scored in double figures for 90 consecutive games and has scored 20-plus points in 17 games this season.

Suarez and the Frogs will not be able to shut down Crooks, but the defense and physicality of Suarez could help limit Crooks’ scoring and provide TCU an opportunity to defeat the Cyclones.

TCU Women's Basketball vs OSU, #7 Marta Suarez shoots free throw
On Assignment, Brian McLean for KillerFrogs.com

“Marta’s one of the keys to our team,” TCU head coach Mark Campbell has said. “For us to be elite, for us to have a chance to accomplish what we want to accomplish, Marta has to play great basketball. We believe in her that she will.”

Review of TCU’s Remaining Regular-Season Schedule

  • No. 12 Baylor, in Waco, Texas, on Thursday, February 12, at 6 pm (Central). Baylor leads the Big 12. ESPN will televise the game. KTCU 88.7 FM will broadcast the game on the radio. This will be the teams' first meeting this season. In winning the regular season and the Big 12 Championship tournament last season, TCU defeated Baylor three times. The Bears will be seeking revenge.
  • No. 19 West Virginia, in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday, February 15, at 7 pm (Central). FS1 will televise the game. KTCU will broadcast the game on the radio. In the teams’ first meeting this season, the Frogs defeated the Mountaineers 51-50 on January 14 in Morgantown, West Virginia. The Mountaineers will be seeking revenge.
  • Houston, in Houston, on Wednesday, February 18, at 6:30 pm (Central). TCU defeated the Cougars 90-45 in Fort Worth on February 4. It was the Frogs’ largest margin of victory in a Big 12 game in program history. The Cougars will be seeking revenge.
  • Iowa State, in Fort Worth, on Sunday, February 22, at 3 pm (Central). The game will be broadcast by ESPN and KTCU. This will be the teams’ first and only regular-season meeting this season. In the only game between the two teams last season, TCU defeated Iowa State 82-69 in Ames, Iowa. Crooks scored 29 points in the loss. She and the Cyclones will be seeking revenge.
  • Cincinnati, in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Wednesday, February 25, at 5:30 pm (Central). The game will be broadcast by ESPN+ and KTCU. This will be the teams’ first and only regular-season meeting this season. In the only meeting between the two teams last season, TCU defeated the Bearcats 81-66 in Fort Worth. Cincinnati will be seeking revenge.
  • No. 12 Baylor, in Fort Worth, on Sunday, March 1, at 3 pm (Central). The game will be broadcast by ESPN and KTCU.

The Big 12 Conference Championship tournament will be held at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, March 4-8. The ESPN Networks and KTCU will broadcast the games. NCAA Selection Sunday is scheduled for March 15.

First- and second-round NCAA Championship games will be hosted by the top 16 seeds, March 20-23.

The regionals will be held March 27-20, in Fort Worth, Texas (Dickies Arena) and Sacramento, California (Golden 1 Center).

The Final Four will be held April 3 and 5 at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

The stakes are high for the Horned Frogs as the regular season winds down and March Madness looms. Last season’s team could be counted on to rise to the occasion. We’ll soon find out if Suarez and her teammates can rise to the occasion or if they will struggle to remain among the Top 25 teams in the country.

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Tom Burke
TOM BURKE

Tom Burke is a 1976 graduate of TCU with nearly 45 years of award-winning, professional experience, including: daily newspaper sports writing and photography; national magazine writing, editing, and photography; and global corporate communications, public relations, marketing, and sales leadership. For more than a decade, Tom has maintained his TCU sports blog, “Midnite Madness.” Tom and his wife, Mary, who is also a TCU alum, live in Fort Worth.

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