In a big battle for the Kansas women’s basketball team Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse, the Jayhawks earned a gritty 60-58 win over Iowa State, led by S’Mya Nichols’ 16 points and clutch performance.
After a slow start, the game headed into halftime tied at 23, before a high-scoring third quarter gave Kansas a 41-40 advantage going into the last period. Then, Nichols battled ISU’s freshman center Audi Crooks to keep the teams neck and neck as time ran down.
But Nichols got the last laugh, opting for a gutsy drive to the basket to give Kansas its last lead of the game, then securing a key loose ball in the final minute.
Both KU head coach Brandon Schneider and Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly regarded the two freshmen as some of the best in the nation from this year’s class, and emphasized the excellence of the Big 12 Conference’s freshmen as a whole.
“There’s a (new) killer on every single team this year,” Nichols added.
While the score wouldn’t show it, the first quarter of Kansas’ matchup with the second-place Cyclones was filled with action. Zakiyah Franklin started the game with a 3 on the Jayhawks’ first possession, following their game against Kansas State where they failed to sink a shot from behind the arc until the fourth quarter. KU entered a scoring drought of nearly seven minutes until Taiyanna Jackson held her own in the post against Iowa State’s leading scorer Crooks and scored her first points to tie the game before Ryan Cobbins followed it up with a 3 of her own. The Jayhawks ended the quarter on a crafty bucket by Nichols to take a 10-8 lead.
Nichols began the second with a similar move, fighting in the paint for a layup. A hot offensive start by both teams had the Jayhawks up 15-13. Iowa State’s Jalynn Bristow tallied eight straight points of her own, including back-to-back 3s, while Jackson and Wyvette Mayberry kept Kansas going on the offensive side.
“Whether it’s creating our own shots or just screening for each other, everyone is able to be aggressive and just get in the lane,” Franklin said. “And we preach that all the time in practice.”
Nichols and Franklin added on to their first-half point totals with a layup apiece to finish the period with six and seven points, respectively, and go into the break with the score at 23-23.
An exciting third quarter nearly doubled each team’s point total as Jackson and Crooks showed their true offensive abilities. Jackson began the quarter with back-to-back buckets before subbing out after racking up her third personal foul. Nichols kept the Jayhawks’ lead at four, but Danai Papadopoulou struggled to defend Crooks, whom Jackson had mostly clamped throughout her seven minutes of play in the first half. A Crooks layup at the halfway point gave the Cyclones their first lead of the half. The two teams traded off points for the remainder of the quarter, until the Jayhawks’ first free throws of the night gave them a 41-40 lead heading into the last period of the blow-for-blow matchup.
Crooks stayed hot in the fourth before Jackson was called for her fourth foul, with which Kansas’ coaching staff disagreed. While the Cyclones continued to turn to their center for offense down the stretch, Kansas had to switch up its game plan, opting instead for driving layups from a multitude of contributors.
“Iowa State is so well-coached and very scout-specific in how they defend. So you can’t get caught up in taking the shots that they want you to take,” Schneider said. “You have to try and go get shots that are good for your team.”
Franklin and Mayberry kept the Jayhawks afloat in a crucial two-minute stretch, matching the Cyclones on the other end with two driving layups and a made free throw as they trailed 55-54. Then the Jayhawks got the ball right where they wanted it to be — in the hands of Nichols.
“Her skill set is everything that I thought it’d be, but I’m so impressed with her poise and composure. So far, no moment has been too big, and in a lot of situations, we like the ball in her hands in a decision-making role,” Schneider said.
The standout freshman stepped right up to the challenge as she so often has done this year, forgoing a rather open look at a 3 to drive through three defenders and finish with an impressive left-handed layup to go up 56-55.
After a string of missed chances for both teams, 36 seconds remained for Iowa State to attempt to tie or take the lead. Instead, it was Nichols once again who showcased her drive and aggressiveness on possibly the most important play of the game. She defended down the lane, forced an off-balance dribble, and dove on the floor to corral a loose ball and force a jump ball to get Kansas back the possession.
The game concluded with a batch of fouls by the Cyclones and four clutch free throws by Franklin and Cobbins. In the midst of this, a double technical was assessed to Jackson and Bristow for contact before the ball was in play, putting Jackson on the bench with five fouls. After Cobbins made it 60-55, the Cyclones sank an impressively contested 3-pointer on the jumper by Hannah Belanger, but with 0.3 seconds left on the clock Kansas was able to hang on for the victory.
“We had the momentum,” Nichols said. “Just because a team scores does not mean they have the momentum. We had the energy. We never let up. We were just, I feel like, the most determined team.”
“It just boils down to being tough and gritty and making big shots and free throws,” Schneider added.
After beating a top-three team in the Big 12, the Jayhawks have another tall task in store with their road trip to Oklahoma (12-6, 6-1) on Saturday. Kansas has a 1-6 record on the road thus far; the only win was against Wichita State. Schneider and Franklin both emphasized the team’s need for consistency at home and on the road if they hope to turn their season around.
“We’ve talked about how there’s really no difference in what we do inside of Allen or on the road. We’ve had a lot of talks as a team and I think just going on the road and performing how we performed tonight, we can get the job done every night,” Franklin said.
The Jayhawks will put their strengths to the test at 6 p.m. Saturday in Norman. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.
Carter Gaskins/Special to the Journal-World
