How a shift in the culture is key to a bounce back year for TCU women’s basketball
2021 was a year to forget for TCU women’s basketball as the Horned Frogs stumbled to the worst season during the coach Raegan Pebley era.
TCU won just six games and only two in the Big 12. The last time a Pebley coached-team didn’t win at least 10 games was in 2007-08 at Utah State. It was a tough season that forced Pebley to do a bit of soul searching.
“I’m an extreme ownership type of person in anything. I’m going to take total accountability. I think there were spaces where I didn’t adapt to COVID as well and I wish we would have done some things differently,” Pebley said. “What was really hard was letting go of the things I couldn’t control.”
Pebley can’t control TCU’s need to replace leading scorer Lauren Heard, but she can control who comes into the program.
A fresh batch of newcomers and a shift in the culture has energized the program and has her excited about the Horned Frogs getting back to the level they were operating at before COVID-19.
“Yeah, we do have a lot of new faces. And we’re excited about these new faces, Lauren was really important, very special to our program, both on the floor and off the floor,” Pebley said. “But we also feel like we can be a little bit harder to guard. Last year, we became a little bit too one dimensional. But we’ve got a lot more pieces. I think right now we diversified our offense.”
The Horned Frogs were ninth in scoring in the Big 12, barely averaging 60 points per game. One of the pieces that will be important for TCU is Knisha Godfrey. Godfrey was a mid-year transfer from Mississippi State and could fill the void as TCU’s go-to option.
“Last year she came into our program and we got not only a great scorer and a great person, but she’s a great worker. She commits a ton of time to the gym. She comes in at 5 a.m. and commits a ton of time in the gym,” Pebley said.
Godfrey was ranked No. 40 in the Class of 2021 and the No. 8 point guard nationally before signing with the Bulldogs.
The time on the bench prepared Godfrey to assume a big role for the Horned Frogs this season.
“Being on the bench I had to adapt coming into a different school. I feel like I was able to view the game differently. I was able to see what the team needed and how I could make an impact on the team. Like being able to score, I’m a scorer and I can come in and contribute to the team in that way,” Godfrey said.
Along with Godfrey, the Horned Frogs are adding five more transfer players to the roster with transfers Bella Cravens, Tomi Taiwo, Bre’Yon White, Emily Fisher and Lucy Ibeh.
Cravens started 32 games in two seasons at Nebraska. Taiwo comes over from Iowa, Fisher arrives from American. Fisher started all 32 games last season and was an All-Defensive Team selection in the Patriot League in 2021.
Ibeh was the leading scorer and rebounder for Central Arkansas last year. White joins the program from fellow Big 12 member Oklahoma.
With varying levels of experience and success, Pebley is optimistic they’ll have a positive impact.
“We brought in winners. And we’ve run into some great transfers that have that NCAA tournament experience. They know what it takes to win. And they know that, the better your offense is, the less pressure it puts on your defense,” Pebley said. “They’ve brought a sense of urgency in acknowledging what summer can accomplish for you and how the summer is an investment in the March bucket.
“They understand that we need to win today to get to March.”
Bigger roles for key veterans
Tara Manumaleuga and Patricia Morris are two returners from last year that will have to step up for TCU. The tallest player on the roster, the 6’7 Morris wants to be an imposing force in the middle after averaging 2.4 points and 2.0 rebounds in 2021.
“I have worked on a lot. This summer, especially just getting stronger. And then skill wise, just working on being more of a presence. Down low on the posts, so definitely rebounding, finishing, blocking shots, all that stuff,” Morris said.
Manumaleuga averaged 2.8 points per game, but will be expected to be one of the leaders of the backcourt. She’s been setting the tone in practice and has also educated some of her new teammates on how competitive the Big 12 will be.
“We’re just pushing each other every day and I think that the end result is gonna help us win. Just build team chemistry, just the competing culture,” Manumaleuga said. “As for the Big 12, I think it’s the toughest conference in the Power Five. Transitioning in my first year from the Pac 12 to Big 12 it was a difference. Pac 12 is more finesse, the Big 12 is more physical with big-bodied guard. Every game if you didn’t come in ready to get hit and play hard, you were going to lose.”
Tough non-conference slate
One way to prepare for a tough conference is to put together a challenging non-conference schedule and Pebley feels she’s done that.
“Three of our first six games are against NCAA tournament teams, very good NCAA tournament teams. But we’ll get an opportunity to test ourselves on the road. That was a space that we didn’t feel great about with our season last year,” Pebley said.
The marquee game is a road trip to North Carolina on Nov. 12. The Tar Heels reached the Sweet 16 last year. The Horned Frogs will also host South Florida as a part of the Maggie Dixon Classic on Nov. 20.
“So playing at North Carolina, at Rice, those are two tough games for us. And then, I think we really pride ourselves that we are the host of the Maggie Dixon classic, every year, it’s awesome. And will host South Florida in that game. And Oklahoma is going to be participating in that with us as well, bringing a little bit more big 12 flair,” Pebley said.
The hope is with all the new pieces around the program that this challenging non-conference slate will set them up for success. The players are all in on Pebley’s message and equally motivated to get the Horned Frogs back to their winning ways.
“The culture is extremely different. I think we have a lot of experience, culturally I feel like we know how to work hard. Nothing is given to us, we know in this conference there are no off days. I think this team knows to how to win together,” Manumaleuga said.
This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 4:09 PM.
