Women's Basketball: Breaking Down A 13-0 Start With Head Coach Mark Campbell

Get an inside look at the undefeated Horned Frogs as they prepare to open conference play Saturday in Schollmaier Arena against BYU.

Rebuilding a Big 12 program that can claim just seven conference wins over the past three seasons, including a 1-17 record last season, might sound like a daunting task.

TCU women’s basketball first-year head coach Mark Campbell views it a little differently.

“I was joking with [athletic director] Jeremiah [Donati] during the interview this isn't even that big a rebuild compared to what I'm used to,” Campbell said in an interview with KillerFrogs.com before TCU’s final non-conference game.

The No. 23-ranked Horned Frogs beat Mount St. Mary’s 87-34 to finish nonconference play undefeated for the first time in program history. That win also established a program-record winning streak of 13 games.

Campbell thought this team could have success. But starting the season 13-0 while achieving a litany of program firsts, including breaking into the top 25 for the first time since February 2020 after hitting the 11-0 mark?

“You had this big picture plan that you were trying to do, but you never know if it'll come to fruition in year one,” Campbell said. “So, it’s been beyond what I hoped.”

Campbell took over at TCU in March following a historic two-year turnaround at Sacramento State. The Hornets won three games the year before Campbell took over. Sacramento State ended the 2022-23 season as co-Big Sky conference regular season champions, won a record 25 games, and made the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance.

TCU’s rebuilding process started soon after that tournament game, as Campbell and his staff hit the recruiting trail hard, bringing in six transfers from the power and mid-major conference levels. A pair of high school recruits and six returners from last year’s 8-25 squad round out the roster.

This is Campbell’s second head coaching gig, but his assistant coaching resume is littered with turnaround stories as well. A rebuild at Oregon State started in 2010 with just one returning scholarship athlete. That resulted in an NCAA tournament run after the 2013-14 season. A move to Oregon the next season resulted in six NCAA Tournament appearances, featuring a Final Four trip in 2019, and three consecutive Pac-12 regular season titles.

Campbell built a reputation as an elite recruiter and has coached 11 WNBA draft picks. While at Oregon, Campbell recruited No. 1 WNBA draft pick Sabrina Ionescu and put together the No. 1-ranked recruiting class in 2020, among other accomplishments. The lessons learned as an assistant and at Sacramento have shaped Campbell’s current approach.

“I have absolute conviction in what we're doing and the kind of kids you need, how you get the locker room right, our style of play; all of those things have been refined over this 14-year journey,” Campbell said. “It sounds crazy, but it wasn't a daunting, overwhelming process.”

Aaliyah Roberson (23) and coach Mark Campbell discuss on-court action during a game against ACU.  :: Brian McLean/KillerFrogs

The transfer portal provided Campbell’s staff a good starting point. Transfer guards Madison Conner (Arizona), Jaden Owens (Baylor), Agnes Emma-Nnopu (Stanford), Una Jovanovic (Fullerton) center Sedona Prince (Oregon) comprise TCU’s starting lineup. Sydney Harris (Central Michigan) has not played due to injury.

Conner, Owens, and Prince have quickly emerged as the statistical leaders and are garnering attention on the national stage.

Conner ranks top 10 nationally in scoring at 22.5 points per game and is first in 3-pointers made (62). She dropped a career-high 41 points against Tulsa featuring 10-of-15 from three-point range.

Originally, Conner was recruited to TCU as a pure shooter based on her role at Arizona. A work ethic that is “second to none," which Campbell compared to Ionescu’s, has made Conner a focal point of the offense.

“We value shooting, and we value skills so she fit with what we, as a program, value but did not foresee her being a top scorer in college basketball,” Campbell said.

Owens guides the offense from the point guard position. She sits fourth nationally with 7.6 assists per game and is third with a 4.79 assist-to-turnover ratio. “Unscoutable,” “magician,” and “her IQ and her vision, it's a gift” are ways Campbell, a former point guard who is top-10 all-time in assists at the University of Hawaii, describes Owens.

The Plano native averages 7.4 points per game and is very intentional about her shot selection. Owens usually focuses on getting teammates involved before looking to score. She dished out 10 or more assists in four of the last five games.

“Jayden is the straw that stirs the drink for us,” Campbell said.

Between Conner and Owens, the Horned Frogs have two dangerous options to run the pick-and-roll with Prince. Defenses must pick between leaving a shooter wide open or letting Prince roll down the lane for an easy bucket.

Prince met Campbell several years ago when she transferred to Oregon from Texas ahead of the 2019-20 season. She missed the 2018-19 season at Texas with an injury and sat out 2019-20 due to transfer rules. Prince then became a key piece of the Ducks’ rotation for a couple of seasons. An injury in October 2022 seemingly ended her college career.

A year off gave Prince, a Liberty Hill native and former high school McDonald’s All-American, time to weigh her options. She decided to return for one more year of college basketball instead of entering the WNBA draft. That decision has already paid dividends.

Prince is tied for third nationally in double-doubles (8) while averaging 21 points and 10.7 rebounds.

“She had never quite been used in a way to allow her gifts to shine,” Campbell said. “She has this amazing basketball IQ … We knew that she could be one of the best players in college basketball with the way we were going to use her. So, it was a huge deal to get her.”

Prince, Owens, and Conner have certainly made headlines, but another transfer has quietly helped key this turnaround.

Several times throughout the season Campbell has called Emma-Nnopu the “backbone” of the TCU program. Emma-Nnopu scored a season-high and team-leading 26 points in a win over Nebraska.

She leads the Horned Frogs in offensive rebounds (40), steals (17) and is second in blocks (16) behind Prince. 

Emma-Nnopu and Prince are the quiet leaders while Conner and Owens are more outspoken, Campbell said.

“They're completely different leaders, but I recognize their gifts and how they use their leaderships,” Campbell said. “Those four, I am forever indebted to those kids for coming here and taking a leap of faith.”

This leadership has trickled down as everyone on the team has bought into their roles. The players on the bench exploded with excitement during Conner’s career night against Tulsa. A similar reaction occurred when freshman Victoria Flores led TCU with 19 points in a win over Prairie View A&M, and sophomore Aaliyah Roberson notched a double-double against Omaha.

TCU's bench, including starters (left to right) Madison Conner (3), Jaden Owens (1) and Sedona Prince (13), celebrates a made shot against Omaha :: Brian McLean/KillerFrogs

Even in postgame press conferences, the players tease each other about things that happened on and off the court. It’s an amazing comradery unfolding for a group that has been together since the summer. 

The Horned Frogs also participated in a foreign tour this summer, which the NCAA allows teams to do every four years, providing additional practices, games, and time to bond.

“I think you can see that there's a fun spirit and joy that this group has and that's the secret sauce,” Campbell said. “That's organic. You can't coach or manufacture that. That's a byproduct of getting the right people in the right locker room.”

Campbell credits his staff with “finding the right young women who love basketball and are great people.”

Adversity in terms of losses has not hit yet, but the way the players interact with each other makes it hard to believe they will not bounce back when that does inevitably happen versus a Big 12 team.

Several transfers bring postseason experience that should prove invaluable as the Horned Frogs navigate a challenging conference slate. Emma-Nnopu was on a national title team, Conner was part of a national runner-up team, and Prince and Owens have NCAA tournament experience.

The Horned Frogs were picked ninth in the preseason poll ahead of Texas Tech, BYU, Houston, Cincinnati, and UCF. That placement is fine for a coaching staff and players who have fully embraced an underdog mentality.

“If you go through the whole roster, there's a group that's got a chip on their shoulder,” Campbell said.

That chip has been on full display during the hot start. When asked what would make this year a success, considering the team has already reached several milestones, Campbell did not list a certain number of wins or a specific postseason goal.

He cited the same standard that made him extremely proud of a 14-win Sacramento State team in 2021-22 – maximizing a team’s potential.

Campbell’s long-term vision is to turn TCU into one of the country’s premier basketball programs, but getting there requires several intermediary steps.

The journey continues Saturday, December 30 with the conference opener against BYU (10-3 overall) at 4 pm. TCU might be off to the best start in program history, but the focus remains on improving every day so each individual and the team can reach that maximum potential.

“There's kids that have a long way to go in their basketball journeys,” Campbell said. “Even our first group, there's so much stuff defensively, there's some things rebounding-wise. We're not even close to maxing out this group's talent.” 

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