TCU Crashes the Top 10 Party: Inside the Defense That Dismantled a National Power
TCU’s road win over NC State wasn’t just an upset; it was a tactical masterclass that flipped the national conversation in women’s college basketball. The Horned Frogs walked into Reynolds Coliseum and dismantled a top 10 team by controlling pace, dictating matchups, and engineering high-efficiency looks. What initially looked like a standard Wolfpack home surge quickly unraveled once TCU tightened its defensive schemes and imposed its own tempo. By the final buzzer, it was clear this wasn’t a fluke; it was a blueprint for how a rising contender can outthink and outplay a national powerhouse.
Tactical Deep Dive
For a TCU team flirting with dark horse buzz, waltzing into Reynolds Coliseum and leaving with a 69–59 win over 10th-ranked NC State felt like a statement. The 17th nationally ranked Horned Frogs didn’t just snap the Wolfpack’s 24-game home winning streak; they controlled every important stretch after halftime. Marta Suarez, the Cal transfer who once torched NC State, did it again with 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting and 4-of-8 from deep, playing all 40 minutes. Olivia Miles added a 15-point, 14-rebound double-double with five assists and steadied TCU whenever the building tried to flip. Together, they powered a 27–7 surge that turned a five-point deficit into a 16-point third-quarter lead and delivered TCU only its second road win ever over a top-10 ranked opponent.
Defense and Tempo: How the Frogs Bled the Clock
Everything in this upset started with TCU’s game plan on the defensive end, where they turned a normally free-flowing NC State offense into a grind. The Frogs mixed aggressive ball-screen switches with soft hedges from six-foot-seven center Clara Silva, taking away clean downhill lanes and forcing the Wolfpack into tough pull-ups and late-clock threes. NC State finished just 26-for-69 from the field, barely 33 percent, and leading scorer Zoe Brooks, who entered averaging 17 points per game, was held to six points on 2-of-13 shooting. By walling off the paint after halftime, TCU doubled up NC State 20–10 in second-half paint points and held the Pack to only four offensive rebounds after giving up 12 in the first half. That combination of one-and-done trips and a controlled defensive glass let the Frogs dictate tempo instead of playing at North Carolina’s pace.
Shot Selection, Spacing, and a Playoff-Style Offense
Offensively, this looked like an extension of what TCU has done all month, averaging nearly 100 points while hitting about 45 percent from three and over 61 percent on twos through the opening stretch of the season. Instead of racing to triple digits, the Frogs showed they can weaponize that spacing in a slower, postseason-style game, lifting NC State’s bigs away from the rim and attacking the seams. Suarez stretched the floor as a six-foot-three pick-and-pop sniper, Silva dove out of ball screens, and Miles punished every late rotation with either a floater or a kick-out to shooters like Donovyn Hunter, who chipped in 11 points and the dagger third-quarter three. TCU finished with four players in double figures and matched NC State’s 11 assists, but their passes consistently generated rhythm looks rather than contested bailouts. On a day when they only scored 69, the Frogs proved their shot selection, spacing, and patience can travel, and that their blend of scheme and star power is built for upsets that will matter even more in March.
