The last time they met was the Jayhawks’ first Big 12 game — a road loss nearly two months ago — and much has changed since then.

“I was home by midnight,” Schneider said, laughing off a suggestion that he may have pulled an all-nighter and slept on the couch. “That does more harm than good sometimes.”

Despite the 70-60 loss, its third in a row to an opponent ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll, Kansas (19-8, 10-7 Big 12) achieved yet another milestone in a season full of them.

It will finish in the top half of the Big 12 for the first time since 1999-2000, when it was fourth in a 12-team conference, and is locked in as the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 tournament, which starts next week.

The regular-season finale is not entirely bereft of drama, however. The Jayhawks appear bound for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine years, and a win at Oklahoma would cement an at-large bid for a team that is seemingly on the safe side of the selection bubble.

“You’d like to have some momentum going into the tournament,” Schneider said. “We knew that this was going to be a really difficult stretch. I’d like to think that even though we came up short in these games, we’ve still gotten a lot better.”

Kansas was coming off a 17-day pause due to COVID-19 on Jan. 8, the date of the 82-68 defeat at Oklahoma, and looked vastly different than it does now. Neither Zakiyah Franklin nor Ioanna Chatzileonti started, emerging scoring threat Chandler Prater was held without a point in 11 minutes off the bench and the Jayhawks did not yet carry the swagger of their Big 12 success.

Schneider is not alone in his preparation plight. Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk said Thursday that she, too, finds that in a season full of scheduling quirks, there’s “not a lot” to be taken from the first game given how much circumstances have changed.

“There’s some challenge in terms of kind of having to go back and remembering some things, but at the same time, it’s also kind of fun to be able to play a team that you just haven’t seen for a long time and to just be able to play,” Baranczyk said. “I think we’re pretty excited about that more than we feel like, ‘Oh no, we don’t know them very well.'”

That first game provided the first taste of Big 12 life for Taiyanna Jackson, a 6-foot-6 junior who transferred from Trinity Valley Community College before the season and has provided the Jayhawks with an interior presence they have not had in a long time.

She finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds against Oklahoma, which has just two players in its rotation who are taller than 6-foot-3. It will be crucial, then, for her to be able to stay out of foul trouble and on the court.

“The first time we played them, they really went to her in the interior and we struggled, that first half especially, in terms of just defending the paint,” Baranczyk said. “Those are some areas where we’ll have to do a good job.”

Schneider said after Wednesday’s game that Kansas has a better chance of being successful when Jackson plays at least 28 minutes. In its eight losses this season, Jackson has done so just four times.

She’s averaging 8.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and three blocks in 26.3 minutes a game this season. Against Texas, she finished with just two points, seven rebounds, one block and five turnovers in 24 minutes.

“I think she’s grown and gotten better throughout the year,” Schneider said. “She’s not gambling. She’s not going over the back doing some of the things maybe she did early, trying to stab at entry passes or ball reversal-type things. She’s doing a better job.”

Her performance will be just one part of Kansas’ defensive approach. Oklahoma is averaging 84.2 points per game, third in the nation, and ranks second in Division I with 81.5 possessions per 40 minutes, according to Her Hoop Stats. The Jayhawks, meanwhile, are averaging 74.2 possessions per 40 minutes, good for 35th.

Saturday’s game should be played at a high tempo, but it’ll be on Oklahoma to catch up.

“I think we’re probably a lot more different than they are,” Schneider said. “In terms of watching film, they’re still five-out, motion, shoot it quick. … I think we are the more different team in terms of the time that’s passed.”