Olivia Miles and No. 12 TCU defend 40-game home streak vs. Iowa State as Big 12 title race heats up in Fort Worth.
There’s big, and then there’s Sunday at Schollmaier Arena. No. 12 TCU women’s basketball (24-4, 12-3 Big 12) is two wins away from repeating as Big 12 regular-season champions.
Standing in the way? Iowa State (21-6, 9-6), a preseason favorite and one of the most efficient offensive teams in the conference.
A win would extend TCU’s home winning streak to 41 games - the longest in college basketball - and push Mark Campbell’s squad closer to its second straight 25-win season.
For a program that finished last in the league just a few years ago, the turnaround has been nothing short of seismic.
The headline matchup writes itself: Olivia Miles vs. Audi Crooks.
Miles, the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year, is stuffing stat sheets like no one else in America. She’s the only player nationally averaging at least 20 points, six rebounds, six assists and 1.5 steals per game.
Her 20.1 points per contest fuel a TCU offense that ranks among the nation’s most balanced.
Crooks, meanwhile, leads the conference in total points (661) and is second nationally, making this a true Player of the Year showdown.
But TCU isn’t a one-star act. Marta Suarez (16.4 ppg) and Donovyn Hunter (11.8 ppg) combine with Miles to form one of the highest-scoring trios in the country at 48.3 points per game.
Suarez and Miles alone average 36.5 points, the most prolific duo in the Big 12. When that pair heats up, history follows - like their combined 67 points in a ranked road win at Baylor earlier this month.
Defensively, the Horned Frogs are suffocating. TCU leads the nation in field goal percentage defense (.334) and has held 13 opponents under 30 percent shooting.
At home, they’re giving up just 53.8 points per game. Only UConn has forced more sub-50-point performances nationally.
Inside, Clara Silva (1.8 blocks per game) and Kennedy Basham (1.5) anchor a frontcourt that ranks among the nation’s elite shot-blocking units.
Iowa State can score. TCU can score and clamp down. On Sunday, a title path runs through Fort Worth ... and the Frogs haven’t let anyone walk out smiling in a long, long time.