Courtesy of Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Following a breakthrough season, the Kansas Jayhawks have earned an at-large berth to the 2022 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Jayhawks are the No. 8 seed in the Spokane Region, and will head to Stanford, California to face ninth-seeded Georgia Tech on Friday, March 18.
Led by Big 12 Coach of the Year Brandon Schneider, Kansas enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 20-9, which includes a fifth-place regular-season finish in the Big 12 with an 11-7 conference record. The Jayhawks have recorded the 22nd 20-win season in program history, while entering the postseason with 20 victories for the first time since 1999-2000.
Three Jayhawks earned a spot on the 2021-22 All-Big 12 Women’s Basketball team, which was announced last week. Junior guard Holly Kersgieter was named All-Big 12 First Team while junior guard Zakiyah Franklin and junior center Taiyanna Jackson both received honorable mention. Jackson was also picked to the All-Big 12 Defensive Team and she enters the NCAA Tournament with a single-season school record 90 blocked shots.
This will be the 14th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance for the Jayhawks and the program’s first since 2013. Kansas first qualified for the tournament in the 1987 and 1988 seasons before making nine straight appearances from 1992-2000. Since then, the Jayhawks have competed in March Madness just twice, making Sweet Sixteen runs in both 2012 and 2013.
Georgia Tech, out of the ACC Conference, went 21-10 this season and 11-7 in the league. The Yellow Jackets have four players who average in double figures, led by senior guard Lotta-Maj Lahtinen at 11.0 points per game. This will mark the first-ever matchup between Kansas and Georgia Tech.
The winner of the Kansas-Georgia Tech game will face the winner of No. 1 seed Stanford and No. 16 seed Montana State. Stanford is the defending National Champion.
The game time and television information for the first-round matchup will be announced at a later time.
