When: 8:30 p.m. today
Where: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City
Who: TCU
Series: TCU leads 6-4
Hello rematch: Tonight’s opening round Big 12 tournament game between 10th seeded Kansas and No. 7 seed TCU is a rematch of the regular season finale, which TCU narrowly won, 55-52, in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday. The Jayhawks nearly pulled off the upset but fell just short when a couple of bounces in the final couple of minutes failed to go their way. First-year coach Brandon Schneider said he was pleased by the way his team fought but that fight did not prevent the Jayhawks from becoming the first KU team to go winless in conference play since the 2001-02 squad finished 0-16 and 5-25 overall.
Reasons to believe: After getting embarrassed by the Horned Frogs, 70-44, at home on Feb. 17, the Jayhawks turned things around and played some of their best basketball of the season down the stretch. A near-upset of No. 20 Oklahoma at home and close calls against Texas Tech and at TCU have the Jayhawks’ confidence higher than it has been in a long time. On top of that, the Jayhawks know that they owned a halftime lead over this very same TCU squad last weekend and actually even led by one heading into the fourth quarter in that game. In that one, the KU defense limited TCU to 32 percent shooting and the Jayhawks also out-rebounded the Frogs 43-39. KU outscored TCU 24-20 in the paint, had more fastbreak points (6-4) and also got more production from its bench (13-4).
Medley the key: Slowing down TCU guard Zahna Medley could be the most important part of tonight’s game for the Jayhawks. In the finale, Medley finished with 21 points and three assists and got to the free throw line 10 times. In the earlier meeting in Lawrence, the TCU senior scored 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting and grabbed six boards in 28 stress-free minutes.
Streaking: Freshman forward Tyler Johnson finished the season on a high note, tallying eight points and seven rebounds in the Jayhawks’ loss at TCU in just 25 minutes. It was the third strong game in a row for the freshman from Leavenworth, who averaged 9.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in KU’s last three games.
Slumping: Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1997, the Jayhawks are just 13-19 in conference tournament action. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 1983 to get the Jayhawks above .500 in conference tournament games (32-30).
Probable starters
Kansas (5-24 overall, 0-18 Big 12)
G — Lauren Aldridge, 5-7, so.
G — Aisia Robertson, 5-7, fr.
G — Kylee Kopatich, 5-10, fr.
G — Chayla Cheadle, 6-0, so.
F — Caelynn Manning-Allen, 6-4, jr.
TCU (16-13 overall, 8-10 Big 12)
G — AJ Alix, 5-6, so.
G — Zahna Medley, 5-6, sr.
G — Veja Hamilton, 5-10, sr.
F — Jada Butts, 5-10, jr.
C — Carol Willie, 6-2, jr.
When: 6 p.m. today
Where: Schollmaier Arena, Fort Worth, Texas
Who: TCU
Series: TCU leads 5-4
Season finale: Tonight’s contest at TCU marks the final regular-season game of Brandon Schneider’s first season in charge of the Kansas University program. At 0-17 in Big 12 play following Saturday’s 11-point home loss to Texas Tech, the Jayhawks travel south to TCU for their second game with the Horned Frogs in the past 12 days. KU is looking to avoid becoming the first team to go winless in conference play since Marian Washington’s 2001-02 squad finished 0-16 in Big 12 play and 5-25 overall. KU has suffered through 16 consecutive losing seasons in conference play and has not finished above .500 in conference since the 1999-2000 season.
Redemption time: Following a 70-44 home loss to the Horned Frogs on Feb. 17, Schneider clearly was the most disappointed he had been in his team all season. Not only did he think the Jayhawks quit when things got difficult, but also that they did not follow the scouting report and, worse yet, did not compete the way he had become accustomed to seeing. Schneider has been much more pleased with his team’s effort since that night. “I think our team has felt like, after the TCU game, we’ve played better,” Schneider said. “We played much better against Oklahoma, we thought we played much better in the second half against Oklahoma State. We had a close ballgame with Texas Tech. Right now, we are guaranteed two more games (tonight and the opening round of the Big 12 tournament). I know our players and our staff were really disappointed with how we competed against TCU, so hopefully we will go there and give them a better version of ourselves.”
Vote of confidence: Texas Tech coach Candi Whitaker, who has known Schneider since third grade and also gone through her own growing pains as a head coach, said after Saturday’s game that, despite KU’s record, Schneider was on the right track. “I think what Brandon and Kansas have going for them is that he’s inherited some young kids that are good and he can build a program with,” Whitaker said. “They have extremely high character and will show up every day and play extremely hard. I think there’s a lot of great things he can build on, and, obviously, (he) has the transfers already sitting on the bench.”
Streaking: Freshman guard Aisia Robertson saved her best for last at home, tallying a career-high 14 points in KU’s loss to Texas Tech on Saturday night. Robertson’s 14 points came on 6-of-11 shooting in a career-best 34 minutes. The San Francisco native also added three blocks and has reached double figures in scoring three times this season, all three this month.
Slumping: Call it a freshman wall for Olathe guard Kylee Kopatich, whose 1-of-8 shooting performance in the loss to Texas Tech marked the 12th time in the past 13 games — and fifth in a row — that she failed to shoot above 44 percent from the floor. Kopatich got her first KU season off to a great start, knocking in two or more three-pointers in eight of her first 12 games, but now is shooting just 31 percent from the floor entering the season finale.
Probable starters
Kansas (5-23 overall, 0-17 Big 12)
G — Lauren Aldridge, 5-7, so.
G — Aisia Robertson, 5-7, fr.
G — Kylee Kopatich, 5-10, fr.
G — Chayla Cheadle, 6-0, so.
F — Caelynn Manning-Allen, 6-4, jr.
TCU (15-13 overall, 7-10 Big 12)
G — AJ Alix, 5-6, so.
G — Zahna Medley, 5-6, sr.
G — Veja Hamilton, 5-10, sr.
F — Jada Butts, 5-10, jr.
C — Carol Willie, 6-2, jr.
Who: Kansas at TCU
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: University Recreation Center, in Fort Worth, Texas
Series: Kansas leads, 4-3
Rematch
Kansas knows first-hand how difficult it can be to win against TCU. The Horned Frogs handled KU, 80-63, a month ago at Allen Fieldhouse.
While TCU (fifth place) is having a better Big 12 season than the Jayhawks (10th), the Frogs aren’t unbeatable by any means. In fact, they’ve lost three of their last four games, with all three setbacks coming on the road — at West Virginia, Kansas State and Oklahoma.
TCU is 11-3 at home this season, though, and the Jayhawks are just 2-7 away from the fieldhouse. A loss tonight would drop KU below .500 for the first time this season.
Streaking
Jayhawks senior forward Chelsea Gardner has scored 16 or more points in each of her past four games. She is averaging 17.8 points and 8.5 rebounds in that span, while making 30 of 55 shots (55 percent). KU’s top post player also has blocked 3.5 shots a game in her last four starts.
Slumping
While Gardner has played at or near her potential of late, Kansas has lost three straight games and four of its last five, leaving the Jayhawks at the bottom of the Big 12 standings with just four games left in the regular season.
In their losing skid, the Jayhawks have shot 41.6 percent from the floor and made just 18 of 61 three-pointers (29.5 percent). Plus, they’ve been out-rebounded by an average of 9.5 boards a game.
Probable starters
Kansas
(13-13 overall, 4-9 Big 12)
G — Natalie Knight, 5-7, sr.
G — Lauren Aldridge, 5-7, fr.
G — Chayla Cheadle, 6-0, fr.
F — Jada Brown, 6-0, so.
F — Chelsea Gardner, 6-3, sr.
TCU
(14-10 overall, 6-7 Big 12)
G — Donielle Breaux, 5-10, sr.
G — Natalie Ventress, 5-10, sr.
G — Zahna Medley, 5-6, jr.
G — Veja Hamilton, 5-10, jr.
F — Chelsea Prince, 5-11, sr.