After climbing its way out of the Big 12 Conference basement with back-to-back comeback wins, Kansas took another tumble Tuesday against No. 11 Texas. Bad pacing, poor ball control, foul trouble and scoring struggles sunk the Jayhawks in a 91-56 loss to the Longhorns.
Kansas initially held steady with the Longhorns (17-2, 4-2 Big 12) through the first six minutes of the quarter, down only 11-10 after a jumper from Zakiyah Franklin. A smaller lineup due to foul trouble for Taiyanna Jackson – three in six minutes of play before coming out for the rest of the half – allowed a 12-0 run for Texas that quickly put the Jayhawks into a 23-10 hole. Franklin and Danai Papadopoulou led the team with four points scored.
The second quarter wasn’t much better for the Jayhawks. Texas began with a four-point run and tacked on a seven-point run two minutes later to gain its biggest lead of the game at 39-18. Kansas found a bit of rhythm to end the quarter, basically matching Texas bucket for bucket, before heading into halftime down 21.
S’Mya Nichols, coming off winning Big 12 Freshman of the Week for the second time in her career, led the Jayhawks with 10 points at the half after scoring eight of Kansas’ 14 second-quarter points. The Jayhawks grabbed 12 rebounds in the whole half to go with 12 turnovers in the same period.
Kansas came out of the break matching Texas’ pace, maintaining a 20-point deficit with scoring mostly coming from Jackson and Franklin, but a 13-1 Longhorn run ended the quarter with an insurmountable 73-41 deficit. Head coach Brandon Schneider sat most of his starters for the remaining period.
Substitutions galore marked the start of the third. Scoring became even sparser on both sides with bench players filling the court. Still, Texas managed to outscore the Jayhawks in every quarter, dropping 18 in the final period compared to Kansas’ 15.
Nichols led the team in scoring with 14 points, and Franklin’s 11 points made them the only Jayhawks to hit double-digits. Jackson played only 19 minutes, ending with eight points and four fouls. Papadopoulou, Jackson’s replacement on the court, played 14 minutes, scored seven and fouled out with three turnovers.
Senior forward Khadija Faye added 14 off the bench for Texas, outmatched only by 17 and 15 for Aaliyah Moore and Madison Booker, respectively. Shaylee Gonzales rounded out the Longhorns’ list of double-digit scorers for the team that has only lost one game at home this season – and 89-75 battle with Baylor on Dec. 30.
The Jayhawks (9-8, 2-4 Big 12) face another tough conference matchup on Saturday when they travel to Manhattan to face No. 7 Kansas State, which sits atop the conference standings with a 17-1 record and a previous win over last year’s championship runner-up Iowa. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game can be streamed on Big 12 NOW on ESPN+.
Eric Gay/AP
