The Kansas women’s basketball team’s run in the WNIT will continue with a fourth consecutive game at Allen Fieldhouse on Sunday.
The Jayhawks (22-11), who were left out of the NCAA Tournament after a .500 finish in the Big 12, reached the other postseason tournament’s Great Eight by winning home games over Western Kentucky, Missouri and Nebraska in the last eight days.
Now, Brandon Schneider’s squad will face an Arkansas team that knocked off Big 12 program Texas Tech, 71-66, on Friday night.
Sunday’s tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. and tickets will go on sale at noon Saturday. The game also will be televised via Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
The matchup is unique for a few reasons, the most significant of which is the fact that the KU women will become the third Kansas team to play Arkansas in the postseason in the past four months.
In its first bowl game in 14 years, the KU football team fell to the Razorbacks in triple overtime at the Liberty Bowl in late December. And the KU men’s basketball team saw its season end at the hands of the Razorbacks in a one-point loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on March 18.
Schneider’s Jayhawks enter Round 4 having outscored their opponents by 17 points per game in the WNIT so far. KU also is averaging 3,310 fans per game at Allen Fieldhouse, a significant step up from its regular season attendance numbers.
The KU women have faced Arkansas (24-12) eight times in series history, including twice in postseason play. The series is tied at 4 wins apiece, with KU holding a 3-1 edge in games played in Lawrence. The last meeting between the two programs was a 71-60 KU victory at Allen Fieldhouse on December 3, 2017, in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
KU is in the quarterfinals of the WNIT for the second time in school history. The last time they reached this point — in 2009, with a win over Arkansas along the way — they made it all the way to the championship game before falling to South Florida in front of a sold-out crowd at Allen Fieldhouse.
The six other teams vying for a spot in this year’s championship game, which is slated for April 1 at a venue to be determined are: Harvard, Columbia, Oregon, Washington, Florida and Bowling Green.
