The West Virginia Mountaineers are the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament champions after a 62-53 win over the TCU Horned Frogs on Sunday in Kansas City.
For the Mountaineers (27-6) it was the second Big 12 Tournament title in the program’s history. It was the first for head coach Mark Kellogg in his third season at the program. West Virginia was led by Jordan Harrison (21 points and the Tournament’s most outstanding player), Syndey Shaw (17 points) and Kierra Wheeler (10 points).
TCU (29-5) fell short of its goal of defending its Big 12 Tournament title of a year ago and failed to sweep both the regular season and tournament titles as they did a year ago. The Big 12 Player of the Year, Olivia Miles, finished with 17 points while Marta Suarez had 16 points.
The Mountaineers will get the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The bracket will be announced next week. TCU will be selected as an at-large team.
Here are the takeaways from the day.
Not So Stressed Virginia
Defending TCU isn’t easy. The Horned Frogs have too many weapons and too much height. It’s their biggest differentiator. Their roster is taller than just about every team in the Big 12, including WVU. That’s where the Horned Frogs can really hurt you.
West Virginia has a way to hurt teams too — defense. The Mountaineers have one of the best turnovers rates in the country. WVU forces 22.5 turnovers per game, which is No. 12 in the country. They call their defense “Stress Virginia” because it, well, stresses teams out.
But, on Sunday, TCU handled it. The Horned Frogs only committed 11 turnovers, well below West Virginia’s average. So how do you win when your best tool isn’t working at optimum level?
You win everywhere else. WVU shot better than TCU from the floor and from the 3-point line. The Mountaineers only committed 10 turnovers. The Mountaineers won points off turnovers, 15-8.
But what really stood out was how the Mountaineers handled the inside game. WVU outrebounded TCU, 41-34. Points in the paint were essentially even. The defense held Suarez in check, even though WVU didn’t get her in foul trouble. Miles had a “human game” by her standard. The Mountaineers outscored The Horned Frogs, 17-9, in the third quarter and made it stand with great free throw shooting down the stretch.
I expected going in that if WVU won it would be because the defense forced a volume of miscues. Instead, the Mountaineers beat the Horned Frogs everywhere else. Shaw got unlocked after an off game against Colorado and Harrison showed that she’s a complete player on the conference’s biggest stage.
How About Two Big 12 Home Sub-Regionals?
Going into the game TCU was basically assured of a home sub-regional, win or lose. The question was whether the Big 12 could get another one. WVU was the best shot, but it needed to win.
Well, it did, so now what? West Virginia finally beat TCU on the third try. The win was the Mountaineers’ fourth Quad 1 win of the season. WVU is 9-3 in Quad 2 games and undefeated in Quad 3 and 4 games. It’s exactly what the committee is looking for. Plus, the Mountaineers are ranked No. 18 in NET.
Based entirely on NET, WVU is competing with a group of teams that include Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio State, Michigan State, North Carolina and Ole Miss. Entering the game, WVU was a No. 5 seed per ESPN. The No. 4 seeds were Minnesota, Oklahoma, Maryland and Kentucky.
Guess which won is the only one that won their conference tournament? West Virginia.
Let the Mountaineers host. It’ll be a blast.
The Floor, Day 5
Well, the Big 12 is at least using the floor in a way that makes sense. For the third time in five days, the league changed up the look of the ASB GlassFloor for a game.
I get that the league has gone to a monochrome look for branding, but let’s find a happy medium with the floor. I’m not a fan of the dark “wood.”
OK, on to the men’s tournament. I’ll be in KC on Tuesday and I’ll get to see the floor first-hand.
