ORLANDO - The UCF women's basketball team will wrap up its road swing in Fort Worth, Texas on Tuesday against TCU. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. inside Schollmaier Arena.
The Rundown
• The contest will mark the fourth meeting between the teams and the first as Big 12 conference opponents, with the Horned Frogs holding a 3-0 edge in the all-time series.
• UCF and TCU are close in the statistical rankings for bench points with 13.5 and 13.7, respectively.
Scouting TCU
• TCU heads into the matchup with a 14-4 record and is 1-4 in the Big 12.
• The Horned Frogs head into the matchup on a four-game losing streak, after canceling two games last week as a result of injuries within the program.
• Head Coach Mark Campbell is in his first season at TCU and third overall as a head coach, after spending the previous two seasons as head coach at Sacramento State.
• Madison Conner is first in the Big 12 with 303 field-goal attempts this season.
• As a team, the Horned Frogs are No. 1 in the Big 12 and 18th in the NCAA for three-point attempts per game (26.0).
A Win Would…
• Give the Knights their first win in Big 12 conference play
• Improve their record to 10-7
• Give UCF its first win against TCU in program history
• Give Sytia Messer her 24th win at UCF
• Be better than a loss
Rising to the Top
• Junior Kaitlin Peterson is having a stellar debut season for the Knights, as she is second in the Big 12 with 21.2 points per game.
• The Eufaula, Alabama, native tallied 32 points in UCF's last game against Baylor to mark her fourth game this season with 30 or more points, which leads the Big 12.
• In UCF’s six conference games, Peterson is averaging 23.8 points per game to lead the league. She set a career high with 35 points at Cincinnati on Jan. 10.
• Kaitlin Peterson set yet another career-high in scoring with 35 points at Cincinnati (1/10).
• Peterson started her UCF career with 31 points in the Knights’ 101-63 victory against Bethune-Cookman, which was a career high at the time. She was 6-10 from beyond the arc and 12-19 from the field, adding in one free throw.
• She’s scored double digits in 15 of UCF’s 16 games this season and has reached 20 points on eight occasions.
Déjà Vu
• Kaitlin Peterson recorded back-to-back 20-plus point games on Jan. 3 and 6, tallying 22 points in both games against Oklahoma State and Kansas State.
•Peterson’s achievement marked the first time a UCF player has recorded consecutive 20-point games since the 2021-22 season when Diamond Battles scored 21 points in back-to-back games on Jan. 22 and 26.
Back in the Big 12
• Sytia Messer and Mike Carey have spent a significant portion of their coaching career in the Big 12.
• Messer spent seven years in Waco as an assistant coach at Baylor and Carey is a veteran in the Big 12, where he was head coach at West Virginia for 21 years, speanding 10 of those in the Big 12.
• The Knights are the only coaching staff in the Big 12 to have a previous head coach and assistant coach with Big 12 experience.
New Year, New Addition
• The Knights received a late present with the addition of transfer Femi Funeus on Jan. 9.
• Funeus, a 6-2 forward, has competed in 58 games, spending three years at Seton Hall and one year at Southern Mississippi.
• A native of Plantation, Florida, Funeus was tabbed to the Big East All-Academic team all three years at Seton Hall.
• Out of high school, she was one of the top-ranked players in the state of Florida.
Last Time Out
• Junior Kaitlin Peterson scored in 32 points to mark her fourth 30-plus point game this season, but the Knights were unable to overcome a late push from No. 12 Baylor to end in a 77-74 heartbreak at Foster Pavilion.
• Khyala Ngodu tallied a career-high 15 points while Mya Burns added 14 points. Ngodu and Burns each pulled down seven rebounds, while Peterson recorded a game-high five steals on the day.
Crashing the Boards
• Freshman Achol Akot leads the team with 8.4 rebounds per game, which is the sixth most in the conference. .
• Akot has tallied five games with double digits rebounds this season.
Taking Advantage of The Freebies
• As a team, the Black and Gold are ranked second in the Big 12 with a free-throw percentage of 74.7.
• In the matchup against West Virginia on Jan. 13, UCF recorded a season-high 29 free throws made.
• The Knigths are averaging 18.6 free throw attempts per game this season.