‘They’re definitely a Top 25 team.’ TCU women earn another convincing win, boost case.
Maybe it’s about time Top 25 voters finally show the TCU women’s basketball team some respect. Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly is already ahead of the curve.
Fennelly, a Top 25 voter, said he’s been voting for TCU for at least the last three weeks and certainly won’t stop now after the Horned Frogs defeated Iowa State 82-72 on Sunday afternoon at Schollmaier Arena.
“They’re definitely a Top 25 team,” Fennelly said. “The way they play, look at their record. They played Baylor tough twice. I’m not just doing it because they’re in the league. I think they’re a legitimate Top 25 team. They’ve earned that right and they’ll just continue to move up. They got a chance to put a run together, which will obviously help their ranking and their seeding.”
TCU (18-5, 9-3 Big 12) hasn’t been able to crack the Top 25 all season despite being ranked among the top 25 teams in the RPI all year. Three of TCU’s five losses have come against Top 25 teams Baylor (twice) and at Texas A&M by only two points in mid-December. TCU also has two wins over Top 25 teams.
The Horned Frogs, in second place in the Big 12, secured a key victory against Iowa State (15-9, 7-6) to give them a two-game lead over third-place Texas and 2½-game advantage over the Cyclones with six regular-season games left to play.
“Maybe a little bit [of breathing room], but only until we play at Kansas State [on Wednesday],” TCU coach Raegan Pebley said. “We’ve worked hard and we’ve earned where we’re at right now and we don’t want to let go of it easily, but we’re also playing for things bigger than that No. 2 spot. The Big 12 is at least a five-team postseason tournament team, so it’s super important we’re valuing every single game.”
TCU certainly valued Sunday’s game against an Iowa State team that had won three in a row. The Horned Frogs, coming off a loss Wednesday at No. 2 Baylor, led most of the way. All five of their starters scored at least 12 points, led by Lauren Heard’s 23 points and 11 rebounds.
But the key for TCU in the second half was controlling Iowa State sophomore forward Ashley Joens. Joens leads the Big 12 in scoring (at 21.3 points per game) and scored 31 against TCU in mid-January in the Horned Frogs’ 77-74 win.
The Horned Frogs held Joens without a basket in the second half — and limited her to just two shots — to pull away from Iowa State. Joens, who had 11 points at halftime, finished with just 12.
“They were very physical with her, double-teaming and triple-teaming her,” Fennelly said. “It’s easy to do that when you’re not making shots. At halftime, our guards were 2-of-15. Ash had a very good game the first time, and I’m sure that was a big part of that.”
Fennelly said TCU reminds him of No. 2 Baylor because of its toughness and physicality. But Baylor has primarily been the lone Top 25 team from the Big 12 all season.
Does Pebley believe Top 25 voters lack respect for the Big 12 this season?
“You really probably need to ask the voters what’s going on with that,” Pebley said. “We also have [six] teams in the Top 50 RPI. We’re one of the only power-five leagues you play everybody home and away twice. To have to do that is grueling. Maybe it’s a lack of education or a lack of respect, I don’t know, but I do know there is a lot of statistical information that shows our league is one of the top two or top three in the country.”
All season, TCU hasn’t focused on the Top 25 rankings and instead has been locked in on making the NCAA tournament after just missing as a bubble team a year ago.
But Fennelly said the Horned Frogs won’t have a problem reaching the NCAA tournament this time around.
“They’ll be a tremendously tough out in the NCAA tournament,” Fennelly said. “I don’t know that anyone will want to draw them, especially on a second night when you have one day to prepare, that’s going to be hard to do for someone. They’ve earned the right to get a good seed, and hopefully that will be where they’ll be.”