After starting conference play with a 1-6 record, Kansas women’s basketball finished the conference slate at 8-10 overall and claimed the No. 11 seed in the Big 12 tournament.
The Jayhawks’ first-round opponent is a familiar one for Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider’s team: the No. 14 seed UCF Knights. Kansas will take on UCF on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
An extremely volatile Big 12 left the Jayhawks not knowing who their opponent would be until Sunday evening, leaving Kansas with limited time to prepare for its first-round matchup.
“I was in the office all day yesterday (Sunday) because it was really unclear as to who we were going to play and there were a lot of different scenarios,” Schneider said on his radio show “Hawk Talk” on Monday. “I had the TV on one game, the computer on one game and the iPad on another, just kind of trying to watch all those games at one time and then once it kind of became clear who we were going to play, then we started watching UCF film.”
Kansas traveled to Orlando, Florida, back on Jan. 4 for a matchup in the early conference slate, and the Jayhawks took home an 83-68 victory in the Sunshine State. That win was the only one for Kansas in its first seven games of Big 12 play.
The Jayhawks finished that Sunday afternoon with two scorers above 20 points: Freshman forward Jaliya Davis led the way with 26 points while senior forward Lilly Meister logged her season high of 22. Both scorers were efficient, with Davis finishing the afternoon 10-for-12 from the field, and Meister concluding the matchup 9-for-12.
On the Knights’ side, over half the scoring came from the hands of sophomore guard Leah Harmon. The Miami transfer tallied 38 points for UCF on a wild 12-for-27 from the field that included five made 3-pointers. Sophomore forward Mahogany Chandler-Roberts added 14 points and seven rebounds to the Knights’ cause.
Unfortunately for UCF, Harmon hasn’t played due to injury since the Knights’ game with TCU back on Jan. 24 and her status for the Big 12 tournament hasn’t been disclosed, but they will have another impact player back for March. Junior center Khyala Ngodu missed the January matchup with the Jayhawks but became a big part of the Knights’ offense later in conference play. Ngodu collected at least 20 points in the final two conference games of the year for UCF, including a double-double in the Knights’ regular-season finale in Houston.
The key for Kansas will be to attack the paint again. The Jayhawks have one of the best post players in college basketball with Davis, and a healthy stretch from sophomore forward Regan Williams has allowed her to find her footing again down low. Add in Meister and the driving ability of junior guard S’Mya Nichols and Kansas should have an advantage at the rim.
The trip to T-Mobile Center will be the second of the season for the Jayhawks. They played Missouri in the 28.5 Shootout at the arena in December and took down the Tigers for an 82-77 rivalry win. Nichols and senior guard Elle Evans each finished the game with 20 points.
If the Jayhawks can defeat the Knights on Wednesday night, Kansas’ next opponent would be the No. 6-seeded Colorado Buffaloes. The Jayhawks have never made it past their second game of the Big 12 tournament in the Schneider era, and Kansas is 0-2 against the Buffaloes since they joined the Big 12 prior to last season.
Kansas Athletics
