The 2025 Large 12 Championship sport, that includes the No. 1-seed TCU Horned Frogs (30-3; 16-2 Large 12) and No. 2-seed Baylor Bears (27-6; 15-3 Large 12) tips-off this Sunday, March 9 at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN.
It’s been fairly a experience for the Horned Frogs, who’ve had by far their most profitable season since becoming a member of the Large 12 in 2012. Underneath second-year head coach Mark Campbell, TCU gained its first-ever Large 12 regular-season title, with Campbell incomes the convention’s Coach of the 12 months award and grad switch Hailey Van Lith taking dwelling Participant of the 12 months honors. The Horned Frogs now have the chance to make much more program historical past by including a Large 12 Event championship to their trophy case.
Because the match’s prime general seed, TCU superior on to the quarterfinals, the place the Horned Frogs defeated the No. 9-seed Colorado Buffaloes, 69-62, behind 24 factors from Van Lith. TCU then beat the No. 4-seed West Virginia Mountaineers within the semifinals, 71-65, to safe its spot within the championship sport.
TCU will now face a well-known foe within the Bears, who most lately outlasted the No. 3-seed Oklahoma State Cowgirls in an time beyond regulation thriller, 84-74. In contrast to TCU, Baylor isn’t any stranger to Large 12 success; the Bears have gained 11 Large 12 Event championships relationship again to 1997, which is by far essentially the most of any program within the convention. Ought to Baylor win its twelfth title on Sunday, will probably be the primary below head coach Nicki Collen, who took over for Kim Mulkey in 2021.
Whereas historical past is actually on Baylor’s aspect, TCU has gotten the very best of the Bears lately. Again on Jan. 26, TCU defeated Baylor 80-75, thanks largely to 24 factors from Sedona Prince and 21 from Madison Conner. The Horned Frogs have been additionally victorious on March 2, albeit in a a lot lower-scoring 51-48 contest, with the play of Prince (16 factors and 19 rebounds) as soon as once more a deciding issue.
Evidently, Baylor might want to discover a method to neutralize the 6-foot-7 Prince on Sunday, which is simpler stated than finished. The Bears have a pair of spectacular frontcourt gamers themselves in Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (14.3 factors and 10.5 rebounds per sport) and Aaronette Vonleh (14.5 factors and 5.6 rebounds per sport), and Vonleh specifically has been taking part in effectively, most lately scoring a game-high 37 factors in Baylor’s win over Oklahoma State.
Sunday’s sport may be decided by how effectively TCU shoots the 3-pointer. In keeping with Her Hoop Stats, 38.3 % of TCU’s area objective makes an attempt have come from past the arc (No. 24 of 362 Division I groups), and the Horned Frogs lead the nation in complete 3-pointers made (321). Conner has accounted for 116 of these makes alone, whereas Van Lith has made 61 3-pointers and Agnes Emma-Nnopu has chipped in 42.
If the head-to-head outcomes from the common season confirmed us something, it’s that TCU is well-equipped to win video games which can be each low- and high-scoring. There’s a motive why Baylor stays one of many nation’s prime packages after so a few years, although, and the Bears are going to need to come out sturdy after these two shut losses to TCU. Count on one other aggressive sport between the highest two groups within the Large 12 as they compete for a convention match championship.
Sport info
No. 2-seed Baylor Bears (27-6, 15-3) vs. No. 1-seed TCU Horned Frogs (30-3, 16-2)
When: Sunday, March 9 at 5 p.m. ET
The place: T-Cellular Middle in Kansas Metropolis, MO
Find out how to watch: ESPN
