Updated 2:07 p.m. Wednesday, June 4:
Lawrence’s two women’s college basketball programs will share the same floor in an official game for the first time in more than 50 years.
The Kansas women’s basketball team is hosting Haskell Indian Nations University at Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 17.
“Immediately I go to it being one, a historical moment for our university, and two, an everlasting, memorable moment for members of our program,” Haskell coach Adam Strom told the Journal-World in a brief interview on Wednesday.
The matchup was initially announced by Haskell in an Instagram post in April, which said the game would take place at 6:30 p.m., and officially confirmed by KU on Wednesday.
Haskell plays at the NAIA level, but the game will count as a regular-season contest according to KU Athletics. Strom said that’s actually better for Haskell, which has multiple other games against Division I and II universities scheduled for next season, than having it serve as an exhibition.
The two teams have not played since Jan. 29, 1974, a 62-26 victory for KU in the Jayhawks’ first season under legendary head coach Marian Washington. KU holds a 4-1 edge in the all-time series with one 38-35 loss on Feb. 5, 1972. (The KU men’s team, for the record, hasn’t played against Haskell since much further in the past; its last matchup with the Fighting Indians was on Jan. 12, 1914.)
“Not that anybody plays for the crowd, but I’m convinced that a Haskell-KU women’s crowd will be attended,” Strom said.
The Haskell women’s basketball program attracted national attention in the spring when Strom continued to coach the team even after he was one of nearly 40 federal employees fired from Haskell on Feb. 14.
In March, Strom went on to lead the Fighting Indians to a Continental Athletic Conference tournament title and a berth in the national tournament. He was also reinstated as a Haskell employee and Haskell lists him currently as both its women’s basketball coach and an assistant athletic director.
KU coach Brandon Schneider expressed his admiration for Strom in a postgame press conference after the Jayhawks’ run at the Big 12 tournament ended on March 5, calling him “a credit to our profession.”
“I would say that Adam has been a tremendous example for our profession, for the Lawrence community, but maybe most importantly for his young women in an era and a culture where people move on pretty easily these days from commitments, but Adam has stuck with his players,” Schneider said. “He has shown just incredible integrity and character in continuing to support them while not being paid.”
The two coaches have built a strong relationship.
“Coach Schneider’s kind of had an open-door policy to some extent for myself and our program,” Strom said.
Strom said Schneider has allowed Haskell to sit in on preseason workouts and practices and honored the team at KU’s Native American appreciation games.
He said that Haskell’s involvement with KU has provided added motivation and inspiration during the Fighting Indians’ out-of-season workouts and summer lifting program.
KU is coming off an injury-ridden 16-14 (6-12 Big 12) 2024-25 campaign but has reinvigorated its roster with the addition of a top-10 freshman class nationally, arguably the best class in program history, and returns last season’s standouts like guard S’Mya Nichols and wing Elle Evans.
Cynthia Hernandez/Journal-World
