The Kansas women’s basketball team announced its full nonconference schedule on Monday afternoon, as the Jayhawks will look to start the 2026-27 season strong and lay the groundwork for a return to the postseason.
KU will host eight games at Allen Fieldhouse with four neutral-site contests and one road date at Minnesota. The Jayhawks will also play home exhibition games against Division II foes Northeastern State (Oct. 22) and Washburn (Oct. 29) before they open the season in earnest against Omaha (Nov. 3).
“As we create our non-conference schedule, we always have two goals in mind,” head coach Brandon Schneider said in a press release. “First is play a variety of opponents who will best prepare us for Big 12 play, and second to build a strong resume for NCAA Tournament selection. Our group has been working extremely hard all summer, and we hope our fan base will take advantage of every opportunity to support our young women.”
Following Omaha at Allen Fieldhouse early in the season will be a pair of regional foes in Drake (Nov. 7) and Oral Roberts (Nov. 10) before the Jayhawks leave home for the first time to face Nebraska at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in a previously announced neutral-site contest. It will be the 87th meeting between the former league rivals, and it will occur on Nov. 14.
What will likely be the most challenging stretch of KU’s nonleague schedule continues at The Barn for the road game against Minnesota on Nov. 18, and then the Jayhawks will take on four-time reigning Summit League tournament champion South Dakota State at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, in the 28.5 Invitational on Nov. 22.
The Cancun Challenge multi-team event will have the Jayhawks facing opponents yet to be announced on Nov. 26 and 27 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Miami (Ohio) and Washington State are current possibilities for these spots.
KU will then play five home games at Allen Fieldhouse in December, two of which are return dates for road games that took place last year. The Jayhawks will face Missouri State (Dec. 3), Kansas City (Dec. 6), North Dakota State (Dec. 10), Northwestern (Dec. 13) and Lindenwood (Dec. 16).
The Big 12 schedule has not yet been finalized but will include lone home games against Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU and UCF, lone away games against BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Utah and West Virginia and home-and-home series with Iowa State, Kansas State and Oklahoma State.
KU, which concluded its 2025-26 season with a loss to BYU in the semifinals of the WBIT after it missed the NCAA Tournament, will be led this year by senior guard S’Mya Nichols and sophomore forward Jaliya Davis, both of whom were first-team all-conference selections last season as Davis was the Big 12’s unanimous freshman of the year. The Jayhawks also return key contributors like wing Libby Fandel and forward Regan Williams and have newcomers like McDonald’s All-American multi-sport center Cydnee Bryant and transfer guard Mariyah Noel (Xavier).
