No. 9 BYU (22-10, 9-9) vs. No. 1 TCU (27-4, 15-3)
Big 12 women’s basketball tournament, quarterfinals
- Tip: Friday, 12:30 p.m. MST
- Venue: T-Mobile Center, Kansas City
- TV: ESPNU
- Streaming: ESPN+
- Radio: BYU Radio
- Series: TCU leads the series 12-11 and has won the past four meetings since BYU joined the Big 12. That includes a 72-48 Horned Frogs win over the Cougars in Provo on Dec. 31.
The trends
For BYU: The Cougars have won five straight games going into Friday, including a 70-52 win over rival Utah in the Big 12 tournament second round Thursday.
BYU beat Houston in the first round Wednesday and now has its first two wins ever in the Big 12 tournament after going 0-2 its first two seasons in the league.
For TCU: The Horned Frogs are the only team in the Big 12 on a longer winning streak than BYU right now, having won six straight. TCU wrapped up its second straight regular-season Big 12 title and beat Baylor twice and West Virginia once during that stretch.
Players to watch
Delaney Gibb, BYU guard: Gibb earned All-Big 12 first-team honors as a sophomore after being named the league’s freshman of the year last season.
She is averaging a team-high 17.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 37.8% from the field and 30.5% from 3.
Olivia Miles, TCU guard: Earlier this week, Miles added to her accolades, as she was named Big 12 Player of the Year, Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Big 12 first team.
The first-team All-American is averaging a team-high 20.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 49.3% from the field and 34.9% from 3.
What’s at stake
Friday’s winner will face the winner of No. 4 Oklahoma State and No. 12 Kansas State on Saturday in the Big 12 tournament semifinals. That game will tip at 2 p.m. MST and will be streamed on ESPN+.
BYU lost to both the Cowgirls and the Wildcats in their only meetings with both teams this season.
The Cougars lost 67-51 at Oklahoma State on Jan. 28, then 77-52 at Kansas State on Feb. 7.
Why NCAA Tournament hopes are on the line
BYU was a bubble team going into the week, and even with two wins at the Big 12 Tournament, the Cougars likely still need to continue adding to their resume.
A victory over TCU would give BYU its first Quad 1 win of the season and add to an otherwise solid resume, but there are other Big 12 bubble teams that are also having good weeks, too.
Arizona State has gone 2-0, including a win over Iowa State later Thursday. Kansas, meanwhile, beat UCF in the first round and matches up against Colorado, another bubble team, later Thursday.
The win over Utah was important on two fronts for BYU, though. The Utes were the first team out in the latest bracketology from ESPN’s Charlie Creme going into Thursday, and by beating Utah, the Cougars, who beat the Utes three times this season, likely vaulted themselves past their rivals in the NCAA Tournament berth pecking order.