LAWRENCE, Kan. – Postseason play begins on Wednesday, March 4, as the Kansas Jayhawks meet the UCF Knights in the first round of the 2026 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament, played at the T-Mobile Center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+, with Brenda VanLengen (play-by-play) and Andrea Loyd (analyst) on the call. Fans can also listen on the Jayhawk Radio Network from Learfield, with Steven Davis and David Lawrence calling the action.
Kansas concluded the regular season with a record of 18-12 and tied for 11th place in the Big 12 standings at 8-10. The Jayhawks won three of their final four games in the regular season and had a record of 5-3 in February, including a 68-59 victory over No. 20 Texas Tech on Feb. 25. KU enters the postseason No. 49 in the NCAA’s NET Rankings, ranking eighth among Big 12 teams.
An original member of the Big 12 Conference, Kansas is set to makes its 29th appearance in the Big 12 Tournament. The Jayhawks are 15-28 all-time in the event, including a record of 10-11 in first round games. KU is the No. 11 seed in the event for the second straight season and fourth time overall. Last season, the Jayhawks were upended 57-53 in the first round by Texas Tech.
Kansas is 1-2 in the Big 12 Tournament since it was moved to the T-Mobile Center in 2024. The Jayhawks opened the 2024 tournament with a 77-53 victory over BYU before falling 76-60 to No. 2 seed Texas. Kansas is set to play at T-Mobile Center for the second time this season after claiming a Border Showdown victory over Missouri, 82-77, on Nov. 15.
Kansas and UCF will meet for the fifth time in series history and first in the postseason. KU is 3-1 all-time against the Knights, including a 3-0 mark since UCF joined the Big 12. The Jayhawks won this season’s meeting 83-68 on Jan. 4 in Orlando.
Kansas finished the regular season by leading the Big 12 in field goal percentage (49.2) and free throw percentage (79.9), while ranking third in three-point percentage (35.1) during conference play. The Jayhawks are on pace to set the school record for free throw shooting for the second time in the past four seasons, and to record the No. 2 field goal percentage in school history.
Freshman forward Jaliya Davis recorded her 13th game of 20+ points in the regular season finale at Oklahoma State, going for 24 points on 10-14 field goal shooting. Davis finished as the Big 12’s No. 2 scorer with 21.5 points per game in league play, and her 13 games of 20+ points is tied for fifth all-time among Big 12 freshmen.
Davis, who will be making her Big 12 Tournament debut, previously scored 15 points with three rebounds in KU’s win over Missouri at the T-Mobile Center on Nov. 15. She also had 26 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots in KU’s win over UCF on Jan. 4.
Junior guard S’Mya Nichols totaled 12 points on 5-7 shooting at Oklahoma State. The nation’s leader in free throw shooting, Nichols missed her lone free throw attempt to finish without a made free throw for the first time this season. Nichols is 204-242 (84.3%) from the stripe this season.
Senior forward Lilly Meister is KU’s fourth-leading scorer at 8.9 points per game and leads the Jayhawks with 6.4 rebounds per game. She has recorded three double-doubles, most recently with 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. Houston on Feb. 14. Meister scored a career-high 22 points with six rebounds in KU’s regular season matchup against UCF.
Up Next
With a win on Wednesday, Kansas would advance to face No. 6 seed Colorado in the second round of the 2026 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday, March 5, at 8 p.m. CT.
Courtesy of KU Athletics