🏀 Women’s Basketball to Play at West Virginia Wednesday Night

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas Women’s Basketball hits the road to Morgantown, West Virginia, on Wednesday, Feb. 9, to face West Virginia. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on Big 12 NOW on ESPN+.

Kansas has won three straight games following consecutive victories over Oklahoma State and a 75-60 win over TCU on Sunday, Feb. 6, at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks have now won three straight Big 12 contests for the first time since January 2015 and completed regular-season sweeps of both Oklahoma State and TCU.

The victory over TCU improved Kansas to 15-5 on the year and 6-4 in Big 12 play, which has the Jayhawks in fifth place in the league. Through 20 games, Kansas has its best start since the 2011-12 season, in which the Jayhawks were 16-4. Since the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996-97, KU has won 15 or more of its first 20 games on five occasions.

Wednesday’s matchup will be the first between the Jayhawks and West Virginia this season. The Mountaineers, who are 11-9 (4-6 Big 12) on the year, have won 13 consecutive meetings against the Jayhawks. The Jayhawks check in at No. 36 in the latest NET rankings, which factor in games through Feb. 6. KU is the sixth-highest team from the Big 12 in the NET rankings and the Jayhawks are currently a No. 11 seed in the latest edition of ESPN Women’s Bracketology.

Taiyanna Jackson recorded her second consecutive double-double and third of the season as she finished with 13 points and a career-high 17 rebounds against TCU. Over the past four games, Jackson is averaging 13.0 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 66.7 percent (22-of-33) from the field. With three blocked shots on Sunday, Jackson moved into eighth on KU’s single-season blocks list with 58 this season, one shy of Chelsea Gardner (2013-14) in seventh.

Chandler Prater led the Jayhawks in scoring for the second time this season as she totaled 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting against TCU. Prater also set a new career-high eight rebounds and hit 5-of-6 free throws to improve to 80.8 percent from the line this season.

Zakiyah Franklin scored 14 points on Sunday while dishing out six assists, her sixth game with six or more assists this season. For the year, Franklin leads the Jayhawks and ranks ninth in the Big 12 with 78 assists, an average of 3.9 per game. She has also hit all 12 of her free throw attempts during the past two games to move to third in the league in free throw percentage at 88.6 percent (62-of-70) from the line.

West Virginia has won three of its last five games to enter the week 11-9 on the year and 4-6 in Big 12 play following a 101-99 defeat in double overtime last weekend. The Mountaineers are ranked seventh in the Big 12 in both scoring offense (68.9 ppg) and scoring defense (65.4 ppg). Kirsten Deans leads WVU in scoring at 14.5 points per game while Esmery Martinez is averaging 11.0 points and a team-leading 8.0 rebounds per game.

Up Next

The second round of the Dillons Sunflower Showdown is set for Saturday, Feb. 12, at 6 pm CT as the Jayhawks host Kansas State at Allen Fieldhouse.