🏀 Big 12 Tournament Preview: vs Texas Tech

KANSAS CITY – The Kansas women’s basketball team will make its 24th appearance in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship Tournament Thursday, March 12 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, MO. The Jayhawks are the No. 10 seed and will play No. 7 seed Texas Tech at 8:30 p.m. CT in the first round. Thursday’s first-round contest can be seen on Fox College Sports Network.

GAME INFORMATION:

First Round: Kansas vs Texas Tech
Tournament Central: –
Date/Time: Thursday, March 12 at 8:30 p.m. CT
Where: Municipal Auditorium (Kansas City, MO)
Listen: Jayhawk Radio Network with Jimmy Chavez and David Lawrence.
Watch: Fox College Sports with Ron Thulin (play-by-play), Brenda VanLengen (analyst)

First Round Clearance Report

This marks the second time Kansas and Texas Tech have met in a Big 12 Tournament since 1998 when the Lady Raiders defeated the Jayhawks, 71-53, in the finals in Kansas City, Mo.
Kansas and Texas Tech split this season’s series with each winning on its on court. Texas Tech leads the all-time series, 23-12, while also leading the neutral games series, 1-0.
The winner of Thursday’s game will play No. 2 TCU on Friday, March 13 at 5:00 p.m. The contest will be televised Fox Sports Network.
Kansas enters the tournament with its strongest regular-season record since 2013. The Jayhawks finished the regular season with a 15-14 (0.517) record. Of the last five games, Kansas has won three securing the team an above .500 record for the first time since the 2012-13 season where they went 20-14 (0.588).
Freshman guard Zakiyah Franklin made program history Monday after being selected to the 2020 Big 12 All-Freshman Team when the conference announced its postseason awards. Franklin is the third Kansas women’s basketball student-athlete to be selected to the All-Freshman Team in the Big 12’s 24 seasons.
Franklin is in the top-15 in the league for assists with 103 (3.55). Freshman Holly Kersgieter ranks among the top-10 in three-pointers made, making 53 triples (1.83 average) in 29 games. She comes in a No. 10.
Junior Tina Stephens ranks 10th in the Big 12 in rebounds per averaging 7.2 boards. She has collected 188 rebounds over 29 games.
Sophomore Aniya Thomas is averaging 2.0 steals a game on the season, which is the fifth-best average among the Big 12.
Four of the five players in the starting lineup are averaging double-digits per game: Thomas (12.6), Franklin (12.1), senior Mariane De Carvalho (10.4) and Stephens (10.2). Kersgieter comes off the bench averaging 10.1 points.

SCOUTING THE LADY RAIDERS

The Lady Raiders (18-17, 7-11 Big 12) enters Thursday contest after defeating Oklahoma, 106-94, in Norman last weekend. The win marked the programs first win over OU in 15 years.

TTU’s finishes its best season in seven years under second-year head coach Marlene Stollings. Stolling has led her team to a 32-28 record in her time at Texas Tech. Overall, she garners a 173-120 record spanning her nine-year career.

The Lady Raiders is led by senior Brittany Brewer, an All-American candidate, who ranks second in the nation in blocks. Brewer was named to the 2020 All-Big 12 first team and All-Defensive Team. The team also sees production from 2020 All-Big 12 honorable mention, Chrislyn Carr.

LAST TIME OUT

Kansas State 83, Kansas 63 | Sunday, March, 8; Manhattan, Kan.

The Kansas Jayhawks basketball team closed its regular season on Sunday after falling to Kansas State, 83-63, in the second round of the Dillions Sunflower Showdown in Manhattan, Kan.

KU was led by freshman Holly Kersgieter as she posted 21 points on 77.9% (7-of-9) shooting from the field and an 80.0% (4-of-5 ) clip from the three-point line. The 21-point outing marked her third time scoring 20 or more points and sixth to hit four or more shots from beyond the arc.

Postgame Notes

Freshman Zakiyah Franklin finished with 13 points on 6-of-12 (50.0%) shooting along with four rebounds and four assists.
Junior Tina Stephens had six points and a season-high four assists to lead the team. Stephens also led the team in steals with three.
For the 20th time this season, the KU bench outscored K-State 25-8.
The Jayhawks finish the season with a 15-14 record, which is the first time the team has finished with a .500 or better record since the 2012-13 season.

UP NEXT

Should Kansas win, the Jayhawks will play No. 2 TCU on Friday, March 13 at 5:00 p.m. The contest will be televised Fox Sports Network.