Buoyed by five consecutive Big 12 wins, the Horned Frogs are rediscovering their rhythm at the right time because the NCAA Tournament is less than three weeks away. 

Following road losses to No. 20 Texas Tech and Colorado on Feb. 1 and 8, 11th-ranked TCU has knocked off a pair of top-20 opponents in Baylor and West Virginia, winning by an average of 13.4 points per game.

Olivia Miles recorded her 11th career triple-double in a Feb. 22 home win over Iowa State, now ranking third all-time in NCAA women’s basketball history. Only Sabrina Ionescu (23) and Caitlin Clark (17) have more. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

At Schollmaier Arena last Sunday, Olivia Miles delivered a heroic fourth quarter, pouring in 17 points to rally TCU from a 13-point deficit and past Iowa State 80-73, marking the Frogs’ 41st consecutive victory when reaching the 80-point mark. The defense did its part, too, holding the Cyclones’ All-American center Audi Crooks to four points in the final frame before she fouled out. 

Three days later in Cincinnati, TCU was trailing by six at halftime. Marta Suárez — who closed the game with a career-high 32 points, 26 of which came after the break — helped ignite a 60-point second-half eruption, and the Frogs pulled away 83-70 to clinch at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title going into Sunday’s finale against 18th-ranked Baylor. 

“To win another league title, I’m so proud of this group,” Campbell said. “They’ve been grinding for the last nine months. Had this goal since June, and today we accomplished that. And we still got one more really big game coming up on Sunday.” 

The milestone was worth savoring. With the clinch, TCU became the first program in Big 12 history to win back-to-back regular-season championships within three seasons of finishing last in the conference — and the first in the school’s 49-year women’s basketball existence to claim consecutive league titles of any kind.

The history isn’t lost on Campbell. 

“It shows you what we’re building is special, that the way we’re doing this is elite. Last year wasn’t a fluke,” he said of TCU’s 2025 Elite Eight run. “The players have changed, but the standard’s the same.” 

Lights, Camera, Baylor

ESPN’s College GameDay will be coming to Fort Worth, with the live broadcast set to kick off from Schollmaier Arena at 10 a.m. Sunday. Both TCU and Baylor are first-timers on the nationally televised pregame show, and the stakes couldn’t be much higher: an undisputed Big 12 title on the line, senior night and an NCAA-leading 41-game home winning streak to protect.

Baylor will roll into Fort Worth winners of five of its last seven, with both losses over that stretch against ranked opponents, at Texas Tech on Feb. 18 and at home against the Frogs on Feb. 12. 

Scoring has been balanced for the Bears, with four different players reaching double figures in recent wins over Arizona and Kansas State. 

The Frogs picked up an 83-67 win at Baylor the last time the rivals met on Feb. 12. TCU has taken the last four games in the series. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Taliah Scott is the clear go-to player for Baylor on the offensive end; the junior guard’s 20.3 points per game is almost twice as many as the team’s second-leading scorer and second in the conference behind only Crooks’s 25.1. A prolific scorer since Day 1 of her college career, Scott has been held to single digits just four times in 52 games. 

Otherwise, the Bears will rely heavily on graduate guard Jana Van Gytenbeek, a National Champion from her time at Stanford whose 6.4 assists per game lead the team, and senior guard-forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, whose 10.2 rebounds per game are nearly two more than any other player in the Big 12. 

It’s a formidable group for TCU to close out against, and, from Campbell’s perspective, exactly the kind of opponent and occasion this program deserves. 

“The stage and how everything’s unfolded, where Baylor happens to be Baylor and there’s a league title that we’re playing for. And we have seven incredible seniors that get to play at the Scholl one last time, and so, you know, the script couldn’t be any better.”

This is part two of our TCU Horned Frogs baseball preview series.

The TCU Horned Frogs enter the 2026 season with high expectations. A team boasting three reigning All-Big 12 players has a target on its back on the conference and national levels after reaching regionals last year for the 18th time in the last 21 postseasons. The Frogs are preseason favorites to win the conference in the 2026 Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll conducted by league coaches, receiving 13 of 14 first-place votes.   

The Rookie and the Vet 

One of the most important relationships in baseball is the chemistry between the middle infielders.    

True freshman shortstop Lucas Franco told assembled media that, “expectations are a distraction.” He’ll have to find a way to manage them, as he was selected preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year. The Katy, Texas, product attended Cinco Ranch High School and was the No. 5 prospect in the state of Texas according to Perfect Game. The 6-foot-3 left-handed hitting shortstop hit .413 his senior year with 13 extra-base hits. With last year’s shortstop Anthony Silva drafted to the Cleveland Guardians, there is a hole looking to be filled, and Franco has a chance to make an impact there immediately.  

Second base is a different story. Cole Cramer, a graduate student from Arlington, Washington, is the only returning Horned Frog to play in and start in all 59 games last season. Last season, he hit .320 with 14 extra-base hits and drew the most walks on the team with 43. Cramer is one of the veteran leaders on this young roster.  

When Franco was asked about how he had settled into being around the team in his first year, he said that Cramer, “was a guy that took me in and showed me the ways.”  

Finding Innings 

Trever Baumler is among the young arms TCU will rely on to solidify its pitching staff this season. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Pitching depth is critical in college baseball, and the Frogs will be tested after losing senior Louis Rodriguez to Tommy John surgery. 

The No. 1 question mark for this Horned Frogs team? Pitching development. Tommy LaPour will be the Friday starter, but the Frogs have multiple talented young arms looking to build upon last season. 

Sophomore Mason Brassfield looks to build on a productive freshman year where he provided 61 and two-thirds innings with a 4.09 ERA and a 25 percent strikeout rate. The crafty left-hander from Bakersfield, California, was named a Perfect Game Second Team All-American last season.  

Another pitcher TCU will call upon to provide some length is sophomore Trever Baumler. Hailing from Urbandale, Iowa, he has a mid-90s fastball that he pairs with his breaking ball. His brother, Carter, was a fifth-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 2020.  

Heavyweight Slate  

The Frogs face a brutal early schedule that will test their credentials as a Big 12 and, potentially, a national contender. TCU plays No. 23 Vanderbilt, No. 7 Arkansas and Oklahoma on consecutive days (Feb. 13-15) at Arlington’s Globe Life Field in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. Then comes a trip west to face No. 1 UCLA in Los Angeles the following weekend. Beginning the season with these opponents will ensure that Kirk Saarloos’ team is tested before starting Big 12 conference play.  

Season Prediction 

The Horned Frogs, led by coach Saarloos, win the Big 12 Championship and advance to the College World Series for the first time since 2023. TCU has the roster to live up to expectations, and its gauntlet of a non-conference schedule will have them battle-tested for the postseason.

— Grant Harris

TCU shook off a bitter loss to 18th-ranked Texas Tech by overwhelming Houston 90-45 Wednesday night in a return to Schollmaier Arena. The 45-point spread represents TCU’s largest margin of victory over a Big 12 opponent since joining the conference in 2012. 

“Their size, it’s just incredible,” Houston head coach Matthew Mitchell said of TCU’s defense, a unit that led the NCAA in field goal percentage defense (.328) coming into the game. “I thought our players really tried hard to get the ball in the basket a couple of times tonight, and just their sheer length and size are a problem.” 

Six-foot-seven senior center Kennedy Basham spearheaded that disruption, leading the team with three blocks and pulling down four rebounds in 11 minutes played. First-year guard Clara Bielefeld added a pair of blocks along with three points and six rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.

With 167 assists, Olivia Miles is only 38 away from breaking now-Chicago Sky guard Hailey Van Lith’s single-season program record, set in 2024-25. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

The “Big Three” of Olivia Miles, Marta Suárez and Donovyn Hunter combined for 64 points on 24 of 33 shooting. Miles paced the Frogs in scoring for the 11th time in 13 contests. Suárez logged her second double-double in as many outings with 24 points and a team-high 10 boards.

“It was a tough loss,” Miles said of the Texas Tech defeat, a 62-60 final. “But there are blessings and lessons in losses in life. … We took what we learned from that game and kept positive energy. Luckily, everyone wants to get better here, and no one’s sulking and moping around, so we just got back to work.”

Wednesday night’s stifling defensive showing extended the No. 14 Horned Frogs’ home winning streak to 39 games, giving them the nation’s longest active run ahead of No. 4 Texas. The stretch began 711 days earlier with a victory over these same Houston Cougars on Feb. 24, 2024.

“The talent that has come to Fort Worth is some of the best talent in college basketball,” said head coach Mark Campbell, who pointed to an initial group of players as catalysts for the program. “The ‘Underfrogs,’ that was just a resilient, gritty group, very similar to what Houston has right now. They rolled up their sleeves and battled and fought, and they’re the group that got this party started. They’re the group that laid the foundation.”

A Big Trip Up to Boulder

Tied for tops in the Big 12 standings with a 9-2 league record, the Frogs hit the road Sunday to face a Colorado team with postseason aspirations of its own.

The Buffaloes are fighting for their fourth NCAA Tournament berth in five seasons. 

Senior guard Jade Masogayo and her 11.5 points per game remain from a Colorado group that last year posted a 9-9 conference mark. 

Junior guard Desiree Wooten, a North Texas transfer and Dallas native, leads Colorado with 12.1 points per game and has reached double figures in six straight Big 12 contests. 

Sophomore center Clara Silva has started all 24 games for the Horned Frogs this season, averaging 10 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per contest. Her paint presence could be crucial as 14th-ranked TCU prepares for a pair of remaining regular-season matchups with rival Baylor. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

A Heavyweight Battle With the Bears

TCU will travel to Waco next Thursday evening for a nationally televised showdown against Baylor, which sits tied atop the Big 12 standings alongside the Frogs.

The 2024-25 conference runners-up boast legitimate size in the paint. Forwards Kiersten Johnson, Kyla Abraham and Bella Fontleroy each average at least 1.5 blocks per game, forming one of the conference’s most formidable front courts. 

This year’s 20-4 squad has only lost to top-20 opponents, most recently a 70-60 road defeat to surging West Virginia — a team that visits Schollmaier Arena on Feb. 15. 

Campbell issued a rallying cry to the TCU faithful as the postseason comes into focus.

“We’ve got three home games left against three of the best teams in the Big 12,” said Campbell of remaining home matchups against the No. 20 Mountaineers, Iowa State on Feb. 22 and 15th-ranked Baylor to close the regular season on March 1. “So we need Fort Worth to show out. … We need the student body to come out these last three games, and let’s keep the longest home winning streak in college basketball rolling.” 

— Corey Zapata-Smith

This is the first of a multi-part series previewing the TCU Horned Frogs baseball team. 

Major media outlets agree that TCU has the talent for another deep postseason run. The Frogs rank in the preseason top 12 in polls from reputable outlets including D1 Baseball, Perfect Game and Baseball America. TCU is ranked in the preseason top 25 for the 17th consecutive season. The optimism is an extension of roster continuity from last year’s squad that went 39-20 but was eliminated in the NCAA Corvallis Regional. 

TCU returns much of its squad from last season, including a trio of potential first-round MLB draft picks. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Feeling a Little Drafty 

The Frogs roster features legitimate major league talent with three 2026 MLB Pipeline Top 100 draft prospects: outfielder Sawyer Strosnider (No. 10), outfielder Chase Brunson (No. 44) and ace pitcher Tommy LaPour (No. 62).

Wichita State transfer Tommy LaPour assembled an 8-3 record and a 3.09 ERA over 16 starts in his Horned Frogs debut last season. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Brock, Texas, product Strosnider, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year last season, is one of the best all-around athletes in the country. He has a pretty, left-handed swing and hit for a .350 average with a .420 on-base percentage. The 20-year-old slugged .650 and hit 13 doubles, 11 homers and led the nation with a school-record 10 triples while pacing the team in hits (77) and runs batted in (51).

Brunson is an all-around player who provides both a consistent bat and great defense in center field. The 6-foot-3 San Clemente, Calif., native was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team last season after slashing .317/.395/.554 with 12 dingers. Brunson started the 2025 season with a 43-game on-base streak. He is expected to be the centerfielder again this season after starting 58 games last year.

LaPour, the big 6-foot-4, 230-pound right-hander, was a true workhorse for the team last season after transferring from Wichita State. LaPour has a big fastball that lives at 95-98 miles per hour and can get all the way up to 101. He also has a slider and changeup that can be used when he gets ahead in the count. The Kansas City-area native started 16 games in 2025 and threw 90.1 innings to the tune of a 3.09 ERA. He struck out 88 hitters while only walking 27. This earned him first-team All-Big 12 honors last year.  

Sophomore Studs 

Noah Franco is a talented player who has the ability to hit and pitch. The two-way pitcher and outfielder hit .313 with a .548 slugging percentage as a freshman and mashed 11 homers. He also has the arm to provide some innings on the mound, as he threw 12 innings, striking out 18 on the year. Perfect Game gave him first-team Freshman All-American honors last season.

Nolan Traeger is a left-handed-hitting catcher who started 43 games as a true freshman, hitting .327 with a .429 on-base percentage. He is a very good framer behind the plate and has a strong arm that threw out nine would-be base stealers last season. He was named second-team All-Big 12 in 2025.

Sophomore catcher Nolan Traeger is among the four returning Horned Frogs who were listed as freshman All-Americans by Perfect Game a season ago. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Comings and Goings 

The two biggest losses for TCU in the transfer portal were first baseman and catcher Karson Bowen, who went to Florida, and right-handed pitcher Kole Klecker, to Arizona State. The Frogs responded to these losses by bringing in first baseman Rob Liddington (Incarnate Word), infielder Kyuss Gargett (Kentucky), and pitchers Ethan Thomas (Hawaii) and Tanner Sagouspe (Cal Poly).

Liddington is a left-handed hitter who can plug in place of Bowen at first. The senior hit .359 and swatted 15 homers for Incarnate Word last season.

Gargett is an athletic infielder who can play multiple positions. He has experience in big moments, making 5 starts and 12 appearances in the College World Series.

Thomas is a 6-foot-5 230-pound right-handed pitcher with a fastball that gets up to 94 and a couple of off-speed pitches. He spent his last two seasons at Hawaii and made 18 appearances with 37 strikeouts and three saves for the Rainbow Warriors in 2025.

Sagouspe is a right-hander out of Cal Poly who finished his 2025 campaign with 40 innings pitched over 25 appearances registering an ERA of 3.60 with 50 punchouts. His over-the-top delivery brings in a fastball in the low 90s, and he features a hammer curveball. 

— Grant Harris

ESPN Analytics gave TCU a 3.8 percent chance of beating West Virginia last Wednesday night after Mountaineer guard Jordan Harrison sank a 15-foot jumper with 11 seconds left. 

Down 49-46, junior guard Donovyn Hunter stepped to the free throw line and made both attempts, pulling the Frogs within one with three seconds remaining. TCU immediately fouled Harrison, who had made all seven of her free-throw attempts to that point. But she clanked the first on this trip, leaving the door open. 

On the final possession, stretch forward Marta Suárez received a bouncing sideline inbound pass from Hunter, briefly facing up her defender before launching a three-pointer from the top of the arc. Two, one. The shot sailed high through the air, catching the left side of the rim and twirling through the nylon as the backboard’s LED lights illuminated red. 

Teammates swarmed Suárez at midcourt as the No. 10 Horned Frogs escaped with their fifth Big 12 victory, improving to 17-1 on the season.

Marta Suárez’s buzzer-beating three-pointer lifted the Horned Frogs to a 51-50 road victory over West Virginia on Jan. 14. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Suárez, who has enjoyed a career season but was 3-for-18 shooting for the game and 0-for-5 from three-point range prior to the winner, showed no hesitation in the crucial moment. 

“It’s just the work that I put in. I know I’m a shooter. I’ve done that before,” the graduate transfer said in the postgame press conference. “And then, honestly, just my teammates, you know. We’ve had a great trip, and just coming out and knowing that I have a chance to get a win for them, and knowing how much it means for everybody, kind of just pushes me forward.” 

TCU coach Mark Campbell echoed that resilience: “We just grinded and stayed in a fight, defended like crazy for 40 minutes. That gave us a chance and an opportunity to steal the game.” 

The Wildcats Come to Town

The dramatic finish keeps TCU in a two-way tie for second in the conference standings with a dozen Big 12 contests remaining in the regular season. Saturday brings to Schollmaier Arena the Arizona Wildcats, whose 75-72 win over BYU on Jan. 6 stands as the squad’s only Big 12 victory to date. 

Veteran guard Veronica Sheffey logged a season-high 17 minutes during TCU’s Jan. 14 win at West Virginia. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Arizona’s Adia Barnes era is no more. The now-SMU coach’s Tucson tenure saw seven consecutive winning seasons, peaking with a trip to the National Championship in 2021. Under first-year head coach Becky Burke, who led Buffalo to a WNIT championship last year in her third season with the Bulls, the Wildcats have dropped four of their last five. 

Arizona will be without its leading scorer. Senior guard Mickayla Perdue suffered a recent wrist injury and is out indefinitely. The Cleveland State transfer was averaging a team-best 17.1 points per game. In her absence last Saturday, the Wildcats managed just 55 points in a loss to UCF at home.

They’ll still have senior guard Noelani Cornfield, who ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 119 total assists and is Arizona’s primary playmaker. Her 7.4 assists per game are more than triple that of any other Wildcat. 

Next Up: Buckeyes, Then Unbeaten Red Raiders 

Two days later, TCU faces perhaps its greatest test of the season at the Coretta Scott King Classic. The Horned Frogs travel to Newark, New Jersey, to meet No. 14 Ohio State on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with tipoff set for 11 a.m. CT on FOX as part of a doubleheader at the Prudential Center. 

The Buckeyes bring a five-game winning streak into the matchup, including an 89-76 dismantling of No. 12 Maryland last Sunday. Sophomore guard Jaloni Cambridge poured in 28 points over 40 minutes in that victory, narrowly missing a triple-double with nine rebounds and eight assists. 

Then on Feb. 1, the Frogs face still-undefeated and 17th-ranked Texas Tech, which at 19-0 is off to its best start in program history. Having cracked the AP top 25 for the first time in 14 years, the Lady Raiders appear poised to snap a 12-year NCAA Tournament drought. 

Tech guards Bailey Maupin and Snudda Collins are both shooting better than 35 percent from three while averaging 15.4 and 14.3 points per game, respectively. Meanwhile, 6-foot-2 junior Jalynn Bristow averages 7.1 boards and 2.1 blocks per game, placing her second in the category among Big 12 players. 

The showdown in Lubbock will be the lone regular-season meeting between the teams and very likely pivotal in determining who tops the standings heading into the conference tournament in March. 

— Corey Zapata-Smith

A contested close-range attempt from Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Jailah Pelly grazed off the rim. Olivia Miles leaped from the low block and pulled down the rebound with her right hand. Miles started up the floor. A whistle blew. Timeout.

In exhaustion and exaltation, the two-time All-American bent over at midcourt, pulling her jersey over her face, as the home crowd rose to its feet.

By the 3:27 mark of the fourth quarter in Tuesday night’s 109-54 blowout of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Miles had compiled 25 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds to secure her third straight triple-double and the ninth of her collegiate career, tying her for third all-time in NCAA history. Only four-time All-WNBA guard Sabrina Ionescu and two-time AP Player of the Year Caitlin Clark have recorded more.

Already subbed out and applauding from the bench was graduate forward Marta Suárez, who on the same night posted 20 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for her first career triple-double. The pair made NCAA history: never before had two teammates both achieved the feat in the same game against a Division I opponent.

Olivia Miles, left, and Marta Suárez, right, became the first teammates in NCAA history to record triple-doubles in the same game against a Division I opponent during a Dec. 16 win against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

“This stuff doesn’t happen,” head coach Mark Campbell said after the game. “This is not normal. But I’m loving it.”

For Miles, the accomplishment was secondary to simply staying on the court. After multiple injury-plagued seasons at Notre Dame, the graduate transfer has found a new appreciation for being on the floor.

“I’m satisfied because I’m healthy at the end of every game,” Miles said. “It doesn’t matter if I have zero points or 25 points. Being hurt has taught me to value each possession, each game, and if I make it through 40 minutes healthy, it’s a win for me. These things are just bonuses.”

Those bonuses are piling up at the perfect time. But Miles and Suárez aren’t the only ones thriving. Production across the roster, along with the on-and off-the-court chemistry, just a dozen games in, has been impressive. For Suárez, sharing the historic night with Miles made the moment even sweeter.

“To be able to do it with her makes it so much more special,” Suárez said. “She’s just such a good teammate and such a good friend. I love her to death.”

With Saturday’s Big 12 opener against Kansas State looming, the Horned Frogs seem to have found their stride, if they ever lost it at all. The win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff counted for ninth-ranked TCU’s 25th in 26 games dating back to early February of last season.

The loss that immediately preceded that dominant stretch? Kansas State.

What will we see against the Wildcats?

One of only two Big 12 opponents to defeat TCU across the Frogs’ 21 regular-season and conference tournament contests in 2024-25, Kansas State has stumbled out of the starting blocks in 2025-26.

With last year’s second-leading scorer Serena Sundell on to the WNBA and 2024-25 All-Big 12 forward Temira Poindexter having graduated, the Wildcats sit only a game over .500 at 7-6, with non-Power 4 losses to South Dakota, South Dakota State, Green Bay and San Diego State. Even still, Campbell warns against taking unranked K-State lightly. The Wildcats were able to rally from a fourth-quarter deficit to down No. 14 Ole Miss, 61-60, on Dec. 7, a result that stands as the Rebels’ lone defeat of the season.

“Coach [Jeff] Mittie’s an elite college basketball coach,” Campbell said of the former longtime TCU head coach. “He maximizes his group every year. This year, they changed their style of play a little bit. Obviously, they had Ayoka Lee over the last couple of years, and she was one of the most dominant centers in college basketball. And so, he’s been in the league a long time. He knows the Big 12. He is gonna have his group locked in and ready to go.”

TCU should have reinforcements coming into the conference opener. Campbell said the team expects to have graduate guard Maddie Scherr back in the lineup Saturday after she sat out Tuesday night’s win. Kennedy Basham’s status remains up in the air after the senior center hurt her left ankle in the second half. She ended the game on the bench, an ice pack wrapped around it. 

“My guess is she tweaked it and she’ll be fine,” Campbell said.

Should Basham be limited or unable to go, expect an expanded role for graduate forward Natalie Mazurek, who played a season-high 11 minutes against the Golden Lions on Tuesday.

Donovyn Hunter has hit at least one three-pointer in each of TCU’s 12 games this season, reaching double figures in all but two contests. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Elsewhere for the Horned Frogs, keep an eye on junior guard Donovyn Hunter, who is playing efficient basketball to spark a career season to date. The Oregon native’s nightly averages of 14 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals are all personal bests, as are her 52.4 percent field-goal rate, 41.4 percent mark from three-point range and 77.8 percent rate from the free-throw line.

First tip Saturday is set for 4 p.m. at Schollmaier Arena.

“It is a great opportunity, December 20, to come pack the Scholl,” Campbell said, “and make sure this team and this group has a great crowd to get the Big 12 season started. I know Fort Worth will show out, they have. But let’s get this party started this Saturday.”

— Corey Zapata-Smith

No. 8 TCU has already entered the record books this season, with last Thursday’s 80-32 toppling of Tarleton State representing a program-best 28th consecutive home win. Three days later, head coach Mark Campbell earned his 100th career victory in a 93-57 rout of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in the 19th Maggie Dixon Classic. 

The win over UTRGV included a second straight double-double from leading scorer Marta Suárez, the current Big 12 Player of the Week. Her latest outing marked a third straight 20-point game for the graduate forward, who opened the stretch with a season-high 26 on 10-of-18 shooting in a 69-59 road win over then 10th-ranked NC State two Sundays ago. 

Graduate guard Olivia Miles, meanwhile, is delivering one no-look dime after the next in averaging what would be a career-best 7.5 assists and 18.3 points per game for the two-time All-American.

Off to their third 6-0 start in as many years under Campbell, the Horned Frogs now shift focus to the Cancún Challenge — an early-season tournament held at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya near Cancún, Mexico. On Thanksgiving night, the Frogs will face Richmond, which entered the season as an AP top-25 team, followed by UAB the next evening.

“And so we’ve got two games in two days,” Campbell said at Sunday’s postgame press conference. “The other thing I really like about it: it kind of gets you ready for the Big 12 Tournament, where you’ve got to play a game and then turn around in 24 hours, you’ve got to lace them up and do it again.” 

Marta Suárez is averaging a career-high 19 points per game as the Frogs near the end of November. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Six games into the campaign and with more than half its roster newcomers, the Frogs have a chance to keep building camaraderie on and off the floor during the excursion, Campbell added. 

After its trip to the Yucatán Peninsula, TCU returns home for four more nonconference games — against Incarnate Word, UTEP, Jacksonville and Arkansas-Pine Bluff — before opening conference play against Kansas State on Dec. 20, in the friendly confines of Schollmaier Arena. 

Scouting the Spiders

Outside of a Nov. 7 matchup against No. 4 Texas, the Spiders have rolled to double-digit wins in each of their other five contests, including on the road against 2025 NCAA Tournament teams William & Mary and Columbia. 

Richmond even led the Longhorns through a quarter — in Austin, no less — but went scoreless for the first four minutes of the second and saw Texas pull away after halftime. 

Even still, the Spiders showcase a dangerous veteran roster with forward Maggie Doogan at the center of it. The 6-foot-2 senior is coming off an Atlantic 10 Player of the Year campaign and is logging 36.2 minutes per game, 17th in the country in the early going, while averaging 23.2 points, which ranks top 10 nationally. 

Senior guard Rachel Ullstrom also returns from a Spiders squad that last year earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament win over ninth-seeded Georgia Tech. Ullstrom, the 2023-24 Atlantic 10 Sixth Woman of the Year and an all-conference player last season, ranks second on the team to Doogan in points (13.2) as well as rebounds (5.2).

The question is whether the Spiders can rise to — and maintain — TCU’s level of play. The Frogs have rattled off seven regular-season wins over ranked teams since the start of the 2024-25 campaign. Richmond is looking for its first victory over a ranked opponent in 19 years. 

How About the Blazers?

Next up is a UAB squad built very differently — smaller and without a senior atop or particularly near the top of the scoring column. The Blazers’ offense, energized by sophomore Eleecia Carter, junior Cali Smallwood and first-year Sofia Munoz at 15.6, 14.2 and 11 points per game, respectively, is largely guard-driven.  

The Blazers are also an excellent free-throw shooting team, knocking down 85.4 percent of their attempts from the line this season, second in the American Conference to only Rice’s 86 percent. Carter forces the issue herself much of the time, reaching the stripe 5.2 times per game, more than twice the rate of any other UAB player this season, and she’s knocked down 90.2 percent of her free throws for her career, to boot. 

UAB can take the ball away, with Munoz, Carter and senior forward Monae’ Duffy combining for 5.2 steals per game for head coach Randy Norton, who’s in his 13th year at the helm and 213-162 for his career. But with three losses already on the season, two being by double-digits and the third against Division II program West Alabama, the Blazers will be prohibitive Black Friday underdogs.

— Corey Zapata-Smith

No. 17 TCU Women’s Basketball closed its season-opening homestand on Wednesday night, dominating Tennessee State 122–39 after earlier decisive wins over Sam Houston and North Carolina A&T.  

The most recent result was not only impressive but historic. The Horned Frogs’ 83-point margin of victory is the largest in TCU men’s or women’s basketball history, and the 122 points mark the program’s second-highest total against a Division I opponent in nearly five decades. 

“In transition, this team is explosive,” head coach Mark Campbell said to open Wednesday’s postgame press conference. “If we can defend and rebound, there are just so many playmakers running around the court and so many skilled players. It’s been three games in a row now where the ball is zinging all over the place.”

The Frogs were efficient and balanced during the midweek rout, going 17-for-27 (63 percent) from beyond the arc. No team in the country shot better than 39 percent from three over the course of 2024–25. Guard Maddie Scherr sank all six of her three-point attempts and finished with a game-high 22 points — her most since Dec. 21, 2023 — after missing all of last season with injury. 

“You’re just starting to see what Maddie’s able to do. She’s always been one of the best guards in college basketball,” Campbell said, noting that the now graduate student Scherr was a McDonald’s All-American coming out of Kentucky’s Ryle High School. 

Forward Natalie Mazurek, who averaged four minutes per game last season (and never exceeded four points during her first 16 games as a Horned Frog), knocked down three three-pointers Wednesday — all within the final five and a half minutes of regulation — bringing the home crowd roaring to its feet each time. 

“Special shout out for Nat, who works her tail off every day, competes every day, has been a huge part of our program the last two years,” Campbell said, “so really cool for her to get some minutes and be able to stick shots.” 

Contributions off the bench will be key if the Frogs are to capture what would be an impressive road win over No. 10 NC State on Sunday afternoon. 

Fresh off a record-setting blowout, the Frogs set their sights on a tough road test against No. 10 NC State. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

The Wolfpack, a Final Four team two seasons ago, fell to the Frogs last year at Schollmaier Arena in a 76-73 thriller that vaulted TCU into the AP Top 25, setting the stage for an all-time year. 

With Sunday’s rematch in Raleigh all but promising to challenge the Frogs in new ways, here are three things to watch as TCU looks to build on a stellar start. 

Will off-court chemistry continue to show?

The Horned Frogs aren’t just among the nation’s top 10 in scoring this season — they also rank fourth in assists, averaging 24.7 per game. The team has had a different leading scorer in each of its three wins.

“We all get along so well. We hang out outside of basketball,” Mazurek said. “We enjoy spending time with each other, and I feel like that plays a part on the court.”

Natalie Mazurek knocked down three of the four shots she took from three-point range Wednesday night against Tennessee State. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

“You see us on the court, vibing and just having fun, laughing with each other,” echoed Olivia Miles after posting her first double-double of the season Wednesday. “That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day. It’s bigger than basketball. These girls and these relationships last forever. We just aren’t afraid to be ourselves.” 

NC State will be without guard Saniya Rivers, a two-time All-ACC defender who was the No. 8 overall pick in April’s WNBA draft by the Connecticut Sun. The Wolfpack haven’t been known for elite team defense under Texas native Wes Moore — in his 13 years as head coach, they’ve never ranked in the top 25 in scoring defense. But they do bring offensive firepower, with four players averaging double figures, including junior guard Zoe Brooks and junior forward Khamil Pierre, who each average a double-double through three games. 

Will early top-15 showdowns for NC State factor in?

The Wolfpack handled Maine on Tuesday night, 66-47, in their first contest of the season at James T. Valvano Arena — the storied venue named for the famous late coach.

NC State’s other two early-season matchups, against No. 12 Tennessee and No. 8 USC, were both decided by a single possession.

“They’re not going to be nervous,” Campbell said. “That program has been at such a high level for years. And so they’ve played in tons of big games. They’re going to be well prepared.”

TCU enters Sunday with three days’ rest and holds a trio of wins by 39-plus points. The Frogs don’t face another top-25 opponent until Jan. 7, when they visit No. 20 Oklahoma State.

How will the Frogs fare in the paint? 

TCU’s first loss last season, an 85-52 defeat to South Carolina at Dickies Arena in December, was largely decided in the paint. The Frogs were outrebounded 36-26 overall and 8-6 on the offensive glass. 

Looking ahead to Sunday, NC State’s Pierre — a 6-foot-2 transfer from Vanderbilt — has been a beast on the boards early in the season, stacking up 14, 18 and 10 rebounds over the Wolfpack’s first three games. 

The Frogs’ bigs have stepped up as well. Senior center Kennedy Basham recorded six blocks against North Carolina A&T on Nov. 6, tied for the second most of her career, while fellow transfer and sophomore center Clara Silva leads the team with 8.7 rebounds per game. 

How TCU’s frontcourt matches up with Pierre and NC State’s size and athleticism in the paint could be a decisive factor on Sunday. 

When the Frogs return to Schollmaier for a 6:30 p.m. tip against Tarleton State next Thursday, they’ll be aiming to extend their program record to 28 consecutive home victories.

— Corey Zapata-Smith

They say defense wins championships, and No. 17 TCU loaded up on it through the transfer portal this offseason.

Olivia Miles led Notre Dame with 5.8 assists per game last season, helping the Fighting Irish reach their fourth straight Sweet 16. Photo by Zach Campbell | TCU Athletics

Chief among the newcomers is senior center Kennedy Basham, who arrives in Fort Worth after a 2024-25 season at Arizona State, where she led the team in defensive rebounds, totaling 34 more than any other Sun Devil, and averaged 2.6 blocks per game, good for second in the Big 12.

She’s not the only defensive-minded addition. The Frogs also brought in senior guard Veronica Sheffey, who stacked up seven steals in a three-game span en route to Mountain West Conference Tournament MVP honors, as she willed San Diego State to the Big Dance for the first time in 13 years.

And that’s not to mention guard Olivia Miles, a graduate student, whose 15.4 points per game last season marked a career best, punctuating a Notre Dame career that will all but certainly see the two-time AP All-American inducted into the program’s Ring of Honor.

With those reinforcements, plus several key veteran holdovers from the 2024-25 squad that reached the Elite Eight for the first time in school history, TCU enters Year 3 of the Mark Campbell era, its roster rich in talent.

What changed since last season

Nothing on the coaching front. Associate head coach Xavier Lopez and assistants Minyon Moore, Nia Jackson, Nolan Wilson and Jessie Craig all return under Coach Campbell, along with Adeola Akomolafe, director of recruiting operations and student-athlete development. 

The roster, however, is reloaded. Last season’s Big 12 Player of the Year, Hailey Van Lith, went 11th overall in April’s WNBA Draft after leading the Frogs in points and assists. If a player in the 2025 portal class can match that level of offensive firepower, it’s Miles, projected by ESPN as a top-2 pick. 

Transfers Marta Suárez, right, and Veronica Sheffey bring NCAA Tournament experience to a veteran TCU roster. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

TCU adds size and experience up front to replace defensive stalwart Sedona Prince ’25 MLA. Graduate student and forward Marta Suárez joins the Frogs with 80 career Power Four starts, while 6-foot-7 sophomore center Clara Silva arrives from Kentucky, giving TCU another post presence alongside Basham and first-year center Emily Hunter. Graduate student and forward Natalie Mazurek returns for what will be her second year with the Frogs after transferring from South Dakota. 

Helping to counter the departure of sharpshooter Madison Conner ’24 is graduate student and guard Maddie Scherr, who missed all of last season with injury. The former Kentucky Wildcat brings a proven scoring touch: in 2022-23, she led the SEC by making 92 percent of her free throws, and her 1.4 three-pointers per game in 2023-24 marked a career high. 

Sophomore guard Taliyah Parker signed on after a season at Texas A&M, where she averaged one steal over 18 minutes per game, adding defensive energy off the bench. First-year players Sarah Portlock, a 6-foot-8 Australian center, and guard Clara Bielefeld, who made history as the youngest competitor on Germany’s senior national team at the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket Championship, bolster TCU’s depth. The Frogs will be without senior forward Aaliyah Roberson for the duration of the season after she suffered a torn ACL in the spring. The former San Antonio area high school standout still holds one year of NCAA eligibility.

Biggest storyline heading into the season

How will the backcourt gel? Five of the Frogs’ six leading scorers last season were guards, but only junior Donovyn Hunter and senior Taylor Bigby return from that group. 

On paper, TCU boasts a dynamic mix of playmakers, but how quickly this unit develops chemistry will go a long way in determining the effectiveness of an offense that could be largely driven by guard play. 

Are the Frogs better positioned than a year ago?

Very possibly, and for the rest of the Big 12, that’s a scary thought. The Horned Frogs swept the conference titles last season, topping three-time national champions Baylor in both the regular-season finale, which left TCU a game ahead at 16-2 in conference, and the Big 12 championship game just a week later.

The Frogs retain the top-end talent and deep bench that carried them to new heights a season ago, and the stability of the coaching staff serves as another plus as TCU sets out to defend its conference crown.

Player to watch

Donovyn Hunter. She may not finish as the team’s top scorer, but the ex-Oregon State Beaver contributes on both ends of the floor. She showed her sharpshooting potential by hitting all four of her three-point attempts — and each of her six field goals — in TCU’s 85-70 NCAA Tournament win against Louisville and appears to be locked in for a breakout campaign, routinely pacing the team in preseason sprint drills.

Newcomer who could make the biggest difference

Suárez is perhaps the favorite to lead TCU’s frontcourt in scoring, having averaged double figures for Cal in each of the past two seasons. But the answer here has to be Miles. Among the more impressive numbers from the former Fighting Irish star last year: Her 40.6 percent mark from three — second best in the ACC — represented a jump of more than 13 points from her previous career high.

Statistic to watch

Turnover ratio. TCU lost the turnover battle in each of its four losses last season.

For a starting group that featured three of the Big 12’s top six players in offensive rating in 2024–25, ball security was one of its few weaknesses. The Frogs’ 12.4 giveaways per game were lowest in the conference, but the miscues proved costly in key moments. Tightening up — especially with eight newcomers among 14 total players — will again be essential to sustaining success in March, and maybe into April.

Toughest stretch on the schedule

The Frogs’ final six regular-season conference matchups, between Feb. 12 and March 1, include three against preseason AP Top 25 teams: No. 16 Baylor, West Virginia (receiving votes), No. 14 Iowa State, Houston, Cincinnati and a second meeting with No. 16 Baylor.

What success looks like this season

Dare I say a trip to Phoenix for the NCAA Women’s Final Four? For a team that finished last in the Big 12 with a 1-17 league record just three seasons ago, it sounds crazy. And yet, with a talented but balanced roster and a phenom guard leading the way, it feels within reach.

One bold prediction

The Frogs this season take the next step, reaching the program’s first Final Four behind a first-team All-America-caliber campaign from Miles.

— Corey Zapata-Smith

Editor’s Note: Jack Bech’s brother, Tiger, was tragically killed in the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans two weeks after this story was published.

I grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, which is about as south Louisiana as you can get. And down there, it’s all about faith, family and football, in that order. Those three things have always contributed to the core of my life. The only reason I am here today is God opened so many doors for me through this kids’ game I’ve been playing since I was 5 years old, and I couldn’t be more thankful. 

Jack Bech’s 1,034 receiving yards this season rank fourth in program history. The three players ahead of him on that list — Josh Doctson, Quentin Johnston and Jalen Reagor — were all first-round NFL draft picks. Photo by Lily Margaret Greenway

FAITH 

I grew up in a Catholic family who helped catapult me to where I am today. But my faith really became my own when I got to college. Nobody was pushing me to go to church, pray or read my Bible anymore. I had to take the initiative, and over the last year and a half, I have.

Making leaps and bounds in my faith has changed my entire life. I have the confidence to walk into any room and the heart to get to know those around me beyond the surface level.

I try to be a positive, smiling, bright light in what can be a little bit of a dark world. I’m not perfect by any means. I’m far from perfect. But we can all be good people who try to treat others as best as possible.

Jack Bech pauses to pray before TCU’s Oct. 26 game against Texas Tech. Photo by Lily Margaret Greenway

FAMILY

I’ve been through a lot, and only a handful of people have stuck by my side through thick and thin. Those people, my people, are my heroes.

Leaders like Chauncey Franks and Coleman Maxwell have helped me grow so much in my faith, prayed with me and encouraged me constantly. Teammates who have become my best friends for life will stand beside me at my wedding. My coaches, our support staff and everybody in the training and equipment rooms have played their role in shaping me into the man I am today. But at the top of that list are my parents.

My parents have done so much for me that I can’t even begin to list it all. One of the greatest lessons I have taken from them is their joint spirit of resiliency. They taught me to keep pushing through no matter what the circumstances are.

“One of the reasons I want to play football at the next level is to give back to my parents and show them that everything they did for me paid off.”
Jack Bech

Life is gonna hit you — that is inevitable. But what separates people who succeed is whether or not you can stand up and keep fighting back. I know I will get knocked down again and again, but because of the strong morals I was raised with, I’m a fighter.

One of the reasons I want to play football at the next level is to give back to my parents and show them that everything they did for me paid off. I pray every morning for the possibility of joining the NFL to help support not only my family but also my future wife and kids.

My biggest life goal beyond playing professional football is to raise a happy family the way my parents raised me. I never want my kids to doubt how much their parents love them and each other. I hope to give my kids everything they’ve ever wanted and more, show them what kindness is, teach them good morals and love them with everything I have in me.

Jack Bech and his family stand on the field during TCU Football’s 2024 Senior Day pre-game ceremony. Courtesy of the Bech family

FOOTBALL

TCU was at the top of my radar coming out of high school, but I grew up about 45 minutes west of Baton Rouge, so LSU was a part of my hometown culture.

Most of my family went to LSU, so I grew up dreaming of playing football there. When I got an offer from their program during my senior year of high school, I knew I had to take it.

Jack Bech celebrates a 50-yard touchdown catch during TCU’s Sept. 14 game versus UCF. The wideout’s 200 receiving yards against the Knights were a career-high. Photo by Lily Margaret Greenway

I had a great first year at LSU, but after some coaching changes during my sophomore year, I thought it would be best for me to make a change. So, I became a Horned Frog. 

I came to TCU in the midst of injury, but God truly pulled me through it all. I am a firm believer that if you keep God first and you always work hard, no matter what is going on in your life, you will keep outworking people. I don’t let trials and tribulations like injuries pull me down. Instead, I allow them to pull me up and help me grow.   

— As told to Lily Margaret Greenway

Editor’s Note: These responses have been edited for length and clarity.