The Kansas women’s basketball team just got a little bit more clarity on what it needs to do to build on its Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship.
The Big 12 Conference announced its slate of league matchups Tuesday morning, and for the Jayhawks the schedule begins and ends at Allen Fieldhouse: against West Virginia on Dec. 30 and against departing conference member Oklahoma on March 2.
In between those dates, KU will play 16 additional matchups against members of the newly expanded Big 12. The schedule takes the Jayhawks to last year’s conference tournament winner Iowa State (Jan. 3) and Texas Tech (Jan. 6), back home for Baylor (Jan. 10) and Oklahoma State (Jan. 13) and then on the road again to regular-season champion Texas (Jan. 16) and rival Kansas State (Jan. 20).
They will rematch the Cyclones at Allen Fieldhouse (Jan. 24), go on the road to face the Sooners (Jan. 27) and then conclude January with a first-ever conference matchup at home against BYU (Jan. 31).
February opens with TCU, the team that upset KU in last year’s conference tournament, on the road (Feb. 3), then at home against newcomers Houston (Feb. 10) and Cincinnati (Feb. 14). The league slate wraps up with three of four road games, including BYU in Provo, Utah (Feb. 17), Baylor in Waco, Texas (Feb. 21), K-State at Allen Fieldhouse (Feb. 25), UCF in Orlando, Florida (Feb. 28) and then the Oklahoma closer.
KU will then hope for a stronger showing in the Big 12 tournament, which opens March 7 at its new venue of the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
This year’s Jayhawks return starters Zakiyah Franklin, Taiyanna Jackson, Holly Kersgieter and Wyvette Mayberry while adding five-star freshman S’Mya Nichols and a slew of promising newcomers to the mix. They completed a summer tour of Greece and Italy in August and will take to the court for Late Night in the Phog on Oct. 6, then open their season against Northwestern State on Nov. 8.
Here is the complete schedule for the 2023-24 season. All times and TV networks are to be announced, except when listed:
Nov. 8: vs. Northwestern State
Nov. 13: at Penn State
Nov. 18: at Kansas City, 3:15 p.m.
Nov. 24: vs. Virginia Tech (Cayman Islands Classic), 4 p.m., FloSports
Nov. 25: vs. UConn (Cayman Islands Classic), 6:30 p.m., FloSports
Nov. 30: vs. Southeastern Louisiana
Dec. 3: at Texas A&M
Dec. 6: vs. Houston Christian
Dec. 10: at Wichita State
Dec. 16: vs. Central Arkansas
Dec. 20: vs. Nebraska
Dec. 30: vs. West Virginia
Jan. 3: at Iowa State
Jan. 6: at Texas Tech
Jan. 10: vs. Baylor
Jan. 13: vs. Oklahoma State
Jan. 16: at Texas
Jan. 20: at Kansas State
Jan. 24: vs. Iowa State
Jan. 27: at Oklahoma
Jan. 31: vs. BYU
Feb. 3: at TCU
Feb. 10: vs. Houston
Feb. 14: vs. Cincinnati
Feb. 17: at BYU
Feb. 21: at Baylor
Feb. 25: vs. Kansas State
Feb. 28: at UCF
March 2: vs. Oklahoma
March 7-12: Big 12 Championship (in Kansas City)
