Ole Miss Women’s Basketball Plays Host to Kansas in SEC/Big 12 Challenge

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss women’s basketball team will be welcoming the Kansas Jayhawks into Oxford for the first time in program history this season. The contest was announced as part of the 2020 SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Thursday.

The Pavilion at Ole Miss – Photo by Paul Keelaghan

Ole Miss is 2-0 against the Jayhawks all-time on the hardwood and 16-14 against current members of the Big 12. The Rebels picked up their first win over Kansas in 1988 at the Aruba Sunshine Shootout in the Virgin Islands with a 61-40 victory behind a stout defensive effort.

The two schools met again 18 years later in the postseason, with Ole Miss winning a 78-76 victory in Allen Fieldhouse in the first round of the 2006 WNIT on March 19, 2006. All-American and current assistant coach Armintie Herrington drained a season-high 31 points as the Rebels erased a 16-point deficit in the second half – capped by a game-winning jumper by Ashley Awkward (16 points) with 18 seconds remaining.

Kansas is coming off a 15-14 campaign in 2019-20 and will return Big 12 All-Freshman Team guard Zakiyah Franklin, who led Kansas in assists (3.6/game) while averaging 12.1 points per game. The Jayhawks also return their leading scorer Aniya Thomas, who averaged 12.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 three-pointers in 2019-20.

The Rebels have taken part in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge three different times since it began in 2014. Ole Miss has traveled to West Virginia and Texas Tech while they have hosted TCU.

At this time Ole Miss has not released the women’s basketball non-conference slate.