TCU Women Brace For Four-Game Road Trip
1/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2002
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In the RPI
* TCU has continued its steady climb up the national RPI rankings, and the Frogs are now rated 19th by CollegeRPI.com and Collegiate Basketball News and 20th by the WBCA, the team's best rankings of the year.
In the Polls
* TCU has received votes in both the Associated Press Poll and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll every week this season. The Frogs currently have 25 votes in the AP poll (29th place) and 63 votes in the coaches' poll (26th). Minnesota edged TCU 64 votes to 63 votes to grab the 25th spot in the ESPN poll. Both rankings are the best in school history.
TCU's New Year's Resolution - Just Win
* TCU is undefeated in the month of January over the last two years. The Lady Frogs, who were a perfect 7-0 during January last year, are 6-0 this season. The Frogs have not lost a January game since falling 82-63 to SMU on Jan. 28, 2000.
Ahead of the Pace
* TCU's record is 14-3, which is the best 17-game start in school history. Last year's NCAA Tournament team was 13-4 through 17 games and went on to a 25-8 season.
You Want Competition?
* The Frogs are 8-3 against teams that advanced to the postseason in 2001. TCU is 4-2 vs. teams that made the NCAA tourney, with wins over Southwest Missouri State, Rutgers, Arkansas and Louisville and losses to Oklahoma and Oregon. Meanwhile, the Frogs are 3-1 against 2001 WNIT teams, with wins over Santa Clara, Houston (two) and Cincinnati and a loss to BYU.
Mittie's Milestones
* Head coach Jeff Mittie notched the 200th victory of his career against Arkansas on Dec. 29 and reached the 50-victory plateau at TCU on Jan. 1 against Montana State. He needs two victories to pass Kenneth Davis (56 wins) and become the second all-time winningest coach at TCU.
3-2-1 Contract
* TCU Athletics Director Eric Hyman announced on Tues., Jan. 22 that head coach Jeff Mittie has agreed to a contract extension. No terms of the deal were disclosed. Mittie has the highest winning percentage at three different schools, including TCU, and has led five of his previous nine teams to 20-win seasons.
Pining for Playing Time
* TCU's bench has outscored the opposing bench in 14 of 17 games this season. For the year, the Lady Frog bench leads the opposing bench 464-267. TCU's reserves score an average of 27.3 points per game, while opponents average just 15.7 points. However, the TCU subs scored a season-low nine points against Louisville on Sunday.
Don't Call It A Comeback
* Against Louisville on Jan. 20, TCU finally played in a game where the team that trailed at halftime came back to win. Fortunately for TCU, the team earned a 57-50 victory. The Frogs are now 12-0 when leading at the half, 1-0 when tied at intermission and 1-3 when trailing at the midway point.
Tough Losses
* TCU's three losses have come against teams with a combined record of 35-16 (.686). The Frogs lost the road games by 10.3 points per game.
You Half to Be Able to Score
* TCU has held four of its opponents to fewer than 20 points in the first half this season (Prairie View-7, Sam Houston State-13, SMS-18 and Houston-18).
Eighty Is Enough
* TCU has not allowed an opponent to score 80 points in game this season. In fact, just four TCU opponents have reached that mark in the Frogs' last 50 games, which dates back to the start of the 2000-01 campaign.
The Magic Number - Part I
* Mittie's TCU teams are 52-6 (.897) when holding opponents under 70 points and 3-19 (.136) when allowing at least 70. TCU is 14-0 this season when holding opponents to fewer than 70 points.
The Magic Number - Part II
TCU is 10-1 when scoring at least 70 points this season and 4-2 when falling short of the mark. In Coach Mittie's three seasons as head coach, the Frogs are 41-6 (.872) when reaching the 70-point plateau and 14-19 (.424) when failing to do so.
TCU Hound Frogs
* TCU has hounded seven teams to 50 points or fewer this season (Prairie View A&M-23, SMS-44, Air Force-48, San Diego State-49, Houston-49, Sam Houston State-50 and Louisville). In addition, 11 of the Frogs' 17 opponents have failed to reach 60.
It Was Re-Bound to Happen Sometime
* TCU has been outrebounded just three times this season, by Oklahoma (44-41), BYU (38-32) and Santa Clara (39-38). TCU is 12-1 when winning the battle of the boards, 1-0 when having the same number of rebounds and 1-2 when being outrebounded. On the season, TCU holds a 758-617 advantage on the glass (8.3 per game).
You'd Think They'd Learn
* TCU has recorded a C-USA-best 120 blocked shots in the first 17 games of the season (7.2 per game), including a school-record 15 against Prairie View and 13 against Cincinnati. Last year, TCU set a school record with 136 blocks on the season (4.1 per contest).
Blocks Stack Up For Irvin
* Sandora Irvin leads the team with 51 blocked shots and broke the single-season school record with a second-half swat against Houston on Jan. 13. Against Cincinnati, she tied the school's single-game record when she sent back seven Bearcat attempts. It took her just 15 games to surpass the previous record of 41, which was set in 32 games by Tiffany Evans in 2000-01.
Sophomore Swatter
* Sophomore forward Tiffany Evans became the school's all-time blocked shot leader on Dec. 22 with her 56th career swat, and now owns 69. She broke the record held by former Frogs Janice Thomas and Amy Bumsted (55). It took her just 42 games to become the record holder.
No Need For Shaw To Seek Redemption
* Against Louisville, Ebony Shaw took over the game, netting a career-high 22 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range and also was 8-of-9 from the free-throw line. It was her eighth double-digit scoring effort of the year. On Friday against Cincinnati, she had 10 points and was masterful defensively, forcing high-scoring guard Valerie King into a 4-for-20 shooting night. Shaw also blocked a career-best three shots.
Playmaker 2
* Sandora Irvin, the first high school All-American to ever play for the Lady Frogs, has been impressive in her first season. She has eight double-doubles on the year and leads the team in rebounding (10.3 rpg) and blocked shots (3.0 bpg) and is second in scoring (11.9 ppg). She has topped the club in blocks in all but two games and in rebounding in all but four. She currently ranks seventh in the nation in blocks per game and 18th in rebounds per contest.
Safaritova Sparkles
* Kati Safaritova scored a career-high 29 points against Montana State on Jan. 1 and tied her second-best total (26) on Jan. 6 at Houston. Safaritova is now is the team's leading scorer for the season at 13.7 points per game after averaging 15.0 points per contest in conference play. She became the first C-USA player this season to win league player of the week honors twice (Dec. 10 and Jan. 7).
D-M-C You Later
* TCU had a nine-game homestand from Nov. 30 through Jan. 3, then played at Houston on Jan. 6. The Frogs just finished a three-game conference homestand, meaning that 12 of the last 13 games were played in Fort Worth. TCU won 11 of the 12 home games and is currently 12-1 (.923) at home this season and 25-5 (.833) over the last two years.
Hit the Road Jack
* TCU is on a season-long four-game road trip starting with the Charlotte contest on Jan. 25 and ending with a game at UAB on Feb. 3. TCU is 2-2 outside of Fort Worth this season.
