Kansas’ Season Ends in Big 12 Quarterfinals

Box Score

OKLAHOMA CITY – Kansas women’s basketball’s 2015-16 season came to a close in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals at the hands of No. 6 Texas, 66-50, on Saturday night inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.
 
A night after Kansas stunned TCU to end its 20-game losing streak, the Jayhawks caused problems for the Championships’ No. 2 seed for most of the evening. Trailing by only eight points after halftime, Kansas continued to battle in third quarter, a period that has persistently caused problems for the Jayhawks. Texas was not able to grow its lead, tying Kansas 15-15 in the quarter, and had to rely on a 21-point fourth quarter and 58 percent shooting to seal the win.
 
In fitting fashion, sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge led the Jayhawks (6-25) in scoring for the final game of the season, her 21st double-figure performance of the season, more than any other Kansas player. Freshman guard Aisia Robertson netted four field goals on eight attempts for 10 points, and collected a team-best nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.
 
Texas’ two leading scorers this season, senior center Imani Boyette and sophomore guard Brooke McCarty, who each averaged 12 points per game, were held to a combined 14 points. Senior guard Celina Rodrigo led the Longhorns (27-3) with a game-high 13 points. Sophomore guard Ariel Atkins tallied 11 points, shooting a team-best 4-of-6 from the field.
 
Trailing 4-2 in the early going, Robertson prevented a fast-break layup with a thundering block that brought the Kansas bench to life. After three minutes without a basket, Texas’ advantage grew to six points before redshirt junior guard Timeka O’Neal buried Kansas’ first triple of the evening to cut the deficit in half. Consecutive baskets from freshman forward Tyler Johnson capped off seven unanswered points to give the Jayhawks their first lead at 9-8 with 1:13 left in the first quarter, but the Longhorns would claim the last four points of the period.
 
Kansas pulled back to within a point, but the Longhorns answered with an 8-0 run while holding the Jayhawks to another three-minute scoreless stretch. A 5-0 run in favor of Kansas, taking advantage of four-straight misses by Texas, turned a nine-point deficit into a one-possession game. However, the Longhorns managed to close out the half with six-consecutive points to carry an eight-point lead into the break, 30-22.
 
KU struck first in the second half, just over ten seconds into the action, but yet another lull in the Jayhawks’ offense followed, this time exceeding four minutes without a basket. Texas saw its opening and pieced together a 6-0 run for its largest lead to that point, 36-24. The Longhorns maintained their 12-point advantage for much of the quarter, but Kansas managed to net the final four points of the third period to cut the margin to eight heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
 
When the margin hit 16 points with 5:32 left in the game, the Jayhawks’ prospects looked bleak, but Kansas refused to go away. Six-consecutive points brought the Jayhawks back within striking distance with four minutes to play.
 
However, the Longhorns had no plans of backing down, either. Texas finished the game on 4-of-7 shooting, including two three-pointers, to put the game out of reach. The Longhorns went on to claim the 66-50 victory and advance to the semifinal round of the Big 12 Championship.

POSTGAME NOTES
Texas 66, Kansas 50
March 5, 2016 – Oklahoma City, Okla.

Series Information

• Kansas now trails Texas 22-10 in the all-time series.
• The Jayhawks are now 0-3 against Texas in the Big 12 Championship.
• Kansas is now 13-20 in Big 12 Championship games.

TEAM NOTES

• Kansas shot 81.3 percent from the free throw line (13-of-16), its best average in the last five games.
• The Jayhawks forced 21 Texas turnovers, the most for the Longhorns since committing 25 giveaways against Oklahoma back on Jan. 23.
• Kansas has lost eight-consecutive matchups against Texas.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Freshman guard Aisia Robertson led the team in rebounds with a career-high nine boards.
• Robertson tied her career-best with three steals, another team-high mark.
• Sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge netted 12 points, her 21st double-digit scoring performance of the season.
• Freshman guard Kylee Kopatich and junior forward Caelynn Manning-Allen were each perfect from the free throw line. Kopatich shot 3-of-3, while Manning-Allen drained all four of her attempts.

POSTGAME QUOTES
Kansas Head Coach Brandon Schneider
Opening Statement:
“I thought these two young guys up here really played well. I thought Aisia (Robertson) played as good as she has played all season, especially in Big 12 play. Tyler, unfortunately in foul trouble, and I have to compliment Lauren Aldridge who was banged up and playing on one leg to fight like that. Our frontline had 16 turnovers and just didn’t get much out of our power forwards today, but obviously Texas is too deep and too talented today.”
 
On what worked the last two nights that didn’t work during the season:
“I would say that the last three weeks we’ve gotten a lot better, and it just hasn’t culminated in some wins. We played Oklahoma at our place really tight, ended up being a 6-point ball game. Missed three free-throws at TCU with a chance to win that ball game. As I did last night, I just credit our players for continuing to work so hard and I just think we’re a team that was obviously we’re the youngest team in the country. But we continue to get a lot better, and we were able to see some of the fruits of our labor here, you know, at the Conference tournament.”
 
On if the never-quit attitude was something he instilled or if the players had it before:
“We talk a lot about how you represent yourself, and we talk a lot about toughness and team unit and those things. But I do think that the character that our team showed this year, despite a really rough record, is something that, you know, we can build upon as we’re trying to establish a certain type of culture in our program.”
 
On what the takeaways are from this season:
“I think we have some good pieces. You know, we have two very good players who are sitting out as transfers and practiced with us this year. I’ve said all along that it’s really important that we continue to develop the players that are currently on our roster while also improving our team through our recruiting efforts.”
 
On if Celina Rodrigo did anything that caught the team off-guard:
“Well, you know, I think her four field goals were all threes and we’re not a team that plays a lot of zone and found ourselves in serious foul trouble especially in the first half and had to play a couple different kind of zones, and Texas did a nice job of moving the ball and we were late to her on several occasions and she stepped up, as a good player should, and made some open shots.”
 
On what the difference was from last night in terms of points in the paint:
“Obviously Texas’ size. Those guys, as well as Baylor, it’s tough sledding in the lane and they have multiple people that they can play there, and I thought we missed some people on some cuts around the basket. But I think we had that moment of pause when you have 6-5′, 6’7 standing in there.”
 
On if the team feels good leaving the tournament:
“Well, I would say yes. My enthusiasm for what I think we can do at the University of Kansas with our women’s basketball program has never wavered. We played with a roster that we inherited and the guys played extremely tough all year long. And I think we have a really bright future, but building in this league is really, really tough because of the competition that you’re going to face night-in and night-out, but I’m excited about our program moving forward.”
 
Freshman Guard Aisia Robertson
On playing two great games in the Big 12 Championship:
“You know, we just stuck to our game plan last night, and today we just worked hard in practice. We did what Coach Brandon told us and that’s what led us to our win in conference.”
 
On what this season’s emotions were like:
“For me, I would say that it really tested our toughness and winning that game last night and coming in today fighting as hard as we did, it really shows how tough we are and it set us up for great success next year.”
 
On what was the most important thing learned this season:
“I would say communication on defense and being assignment correct each and every play and watching our turnovers.”
 
Freshman Forward Tyler Johnson
On what worked the last two nights that didn’t work during the season:
“We’ve just been really shaky in putting all four quarters together and I believe that last night and today even we really put all four quarters together and we really fought hard and we were just able to step it up.”
 
On if Celina Rodrigo did anything that caught the team off-guard:
“Texas just moved the ball around really good and we were caught off guard a lot of times. She is a really good player and we didn’t execute defense enough to stop her.”
 
On what this season’s emotions were like:
“Um, the season was a battle. We just have to keep our heads up, just keep fighting. Like we showed yesterday and today, we have the fight in us and we just have to bring that next year.”
 
On what was the most important thing learned this season:
“I would say just being able to fight through anything and to execute.”

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