🏀 Kansas Welcomes Arkansas Sunday for WNIT Great Eight
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas women’s basketball will host Arkansas on Sunday, March 26, in the Great Eight round of the WNIT.
Tipoff from Allen Fieldhouse is set for 2 p.m. CT on Sunday and the game will be televised on Big 12 NOW via ESPN+, with Josh Klingler and Wayne Simien on the call. Fans can also listen to the game on the Jayhawk Radio Network, with Steven Davis and David Lawrence calling the action.
Sunday’s matchup will be the ninth all-time meeting between Kansas and Arkansas, and first since the Jayhawks defeated the Razorbacks 71-60 on Dec. 3, 2017, in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The all-time series is tied at 4-4 and includes a 75-59 KU victory over Arkansas in the 2009 WNIT.
Kansas (22-11) advanced to the WNIT quarterfinals with victories over Western Kentucky (86-72), Missouri (75-47) and Nebraska (64-55), while Arkansas (24-12) defeated Louisiana Tech (69-45), Stephen F. Austin (60-37) and Texas Tech (71-66) to reach the Great Eight.
Kansas junior guard Chandler Prater has recorded three double-doubles in the past four games after doing so just once in her first 79 career games. Most recently, she had 14 points and a career-high 16 rebounds on Thursday night against Nebraska. Prater is averaging 13.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game in the WNIT and has scored in double figures in each of the last five games, raising her season average to 9.7 points per game.
Senior center Taiyanna Jackson also secured her second double-double of the WNIT with 16 points and 12 rebounds against Nebraska. Jackson now has 20 double-doubles this season, which ranks eighth in the nation and tied for fourth on KU’s single-season list. She added three blocks versus Nebraska, giving her 99 on the year, which is a Kansas single-season record, eclipsing her previous record of 95 from last season. Jackson, a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team and All-Big 12 Defensive Team selection, is the first Jayhawk since 1982 to average a double-double for an entire season, and on March 22 was named a region finalist for WBCA All-America honors, which are announced at the end of the month.
All-Big 12 First Team selection Zakiyah Franklin scored at least 20 points in both of KU’s first two WNIT victories and is leading the Jayhawks with 18.0 points per game in the tournament. The senior guard set a new career-high with five three-pointers against Missouri and enters the Arkansas game seven points away from 1,500 for her career.
Jayhawk senior guard Holly Kersgieter, a three-time All-Big 12 selection, is just ahead of Franklin on the all-time scoring list after reaching the 1,500-point milestone against Missouri. She is No. 13 on KU’s all-time scoring list with 1,516 career points and averaging 13.3 points per game in the WNIT.
Kansas is competing in the WNIT for the sixth time, first since 2011, and the Jayhawks are in the postseason for the second consecutive season. KU is 12-5 all-time in the WNIT and has now reached the quarterfinals for the second time, first since 2009 when the Jayhawks reached the WNIT Championship game.
With the first-round victory over WKU, Kansas reached 20 wins for the second-straight season and 23rd time in program history. KU’s win versus Nebraska gave the Jayhawks 22 wins, the most in a season since 2008-09. A win over Arkansas on Sunday would put KU at 23 wins for the first time since 1998-99.
Arkansas comes to town with a 24-12 record this season, which includes a 7-9 mark in league play as they finished eighth in the SEC. The Razorbacks will be the second SEC team that Kansas has faced in the WNIT after dispatching of longtime conference rival Missouri 75-47 in the second round on March 20.
Up Next
With a win, Kansas would advance to the Fab 4 round of the WNIT, where the Jayhawks would face the winner of a Great Eight matchup between Oregon and Washington. The Oregon-Washington contest will be played March 26 at 5 p.m. CT.
