🏀 Zakiyah Franklin Named Big 12 Player of the Week

IRVING, Texas – After matching her career-high with 26 points and leading the Kansas Jayhawks to a 10th-straight win to open the season, KU senior guard Zakiyah Franklin has been named the Big 12 Player of the Week.

Franklin scored in double figures for the seventh-consecutive game as she totaled 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting to lead Kansas past Tulsa, 81-62 on Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse. It was the second 20-point game of the season for Franklin, who ranks second on the team and seventh in the Big 12 with an average of 14.6 points per game. In the win over Tulsa, the Lakeland, Florida, native also surpassed the 1,100-point mark for her career and moved into 25th on KU’s all-time scoring list. Franklin has scored 1,118 points in her career as a Jayhawk.

In addition to her scoring, Franklin pulled down five rebounds and recorded two assists and two steals against Tulsa. She is averaging a team-high 30.3 minutes per game this season. Franklin leads the Jayhawks with 29 assists, ranks fifth with nine steals and averages 3.5 rebounds per game for the year.

Franklin becomes the first Jayhawk to earn a Big 12 Weekly honor since Ioanna Chatzileonti was named Freshman of the Week on Dec. 7, 2020, and the first to be named Big 12 Player of the Week since Holly Kersgieter received the honor on Nov. 11, 2019.

No. 20 Kansas returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 21, at Nebraska in the final non-conference game of the season. The game will tip off at 6 p.m. CT and be televised on Big Ten Network+.