No. 8 seed Kansas (20-12) defeated No. 9 seed Michigan (20-14) 81-72 in overtime in the first round of the NCAA tournament hosted at Galen Center.
Going into the matchup, the teams were fairly even with similar records. In Michigan’s last game, the Wolverines lost to Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.
Michigan made its 12th all-time appearance in the NCAA tournament, and this is the first time in the program’s history that it had six consecutive bids to the tournament.
This is Kansas’ first appearance in the tournament since 2022, and 15th all-time. Before 2022, the Jayhawks had not been in it since 2013.
Michigan came out with more firepower than the Jayhawks, but the score consistently remained within 10 points.
Both teams had a slow start, with many possession changes, but not much scoring.
Michigan led only 11-10 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, both teams started to light up on offense, making almost double the amount of shots they made in the first quarter, with Michigan making 7-of-13 shots and Kansas draining 7-of-15.
At halftime, the Wolverines led 32-29.
Michigan led by nine after the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter, the Wolverines had a 10-point lead.
“I give Michigan a lot of credit,” Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider said. “I thought they were by far the best team for three quarters. [Senior forward Cameron] Williams, in particular, did some things to us that typically players don’t have success with, and that’s being very aggressive and attacking [Kansas junior center Taiyanna] Jackson.”
The Jayhawks responded and came back quickly, making lots of shots and accumulating 23 points to Michigan’s 14 for the quarter.
Junior guard Zakiyah Franklin scored a 3-pointer to tie the game with 12 seconds remaining. The Jayhawks then got a stop on the other end to force overtime, tied at 67.
“I’m thinking, OK, I shot the ball from there, it hit the rim a couple times, so I’m like ‘It has to go in,’” Franklin said about what was going through her mind. “We lived with the results, and we survived and we advance.”
Franklin led the team in points, with 22, and minutes on the court, with 44.
“The kid’s a winner, and that’s why we recruited her,” Schneider said. “Our program came from the very bottom of the Power Five, and we needed a kid like that, that was used to winning.”
Schneider shared what he told his team going into overtime.
“Just keep getting stops, number one,” he said. “I think that’s what really got us back in the game. Then, we were in the bonus, so [I] challenged everyone to just don’t leave the offensive end without a paint touch and an opportunity to get to the free-throw line.”
The Jayhawks dominated in overtime, scoring the first five points on their first two possessions.
Michigan’s head coach Kim Barnes Arico commented on how the Jayhawks’ free throw shooting allowed them to come back.
“The number of times they went to the free-throw line in the fourth quarter was probably more than we went for the game,” Barnes Arico said.
Kansas won by nine points.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our team’s resilience,” Schneider said. “They never fragmented. They just stayed the course and obviously made some really, really big plays offensively that were preceded by key stop after key stop.”
Kansas will move on to play USC in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday at 7 p.m. at Galen Center.