Hawking Points: Jackson's career-high 29 paces Jayhawks to road win over Knights, 65-53
The final road game of the season was a rousing success for the Kansas Jayhawks, as super senior center Taiyanna Jackson dropped a career high 29 points on the UCF Knights in Orlando. The Jayhawks dominated the game from start to finish, despite starting point guard Wyvette Mayberry being unavailable. The game went as many expected, with Kansas jumping out to an early lead before running away with a 65-53 win.
Key Plays
Jackson got started early, answering a quick UCF layup after the tip with a personal 5-0 scoring run and the first 7 points for the Jayhawks. She ended the quarter with 9 total points and 6 rebounds, taking early control of the game for the Jayhawks and helping power them to a six point lead at the first quarter break.
Jackson continued her scoring early in the second quarter, but passed the scoring torch to the rest of her teammates after the first minute. Ryan Cobbins, starting in place of Wyvette Mayberry, hit a three before Zakiyah Franklin and S'mya Nichols got into the scoring. The Jayhawks took control with an 8-0 run to end the half.
The third quarter was uneventful, with the margin staying between 10 and 14. Jackson added another 7 points in the quarter, with Nichols hitting a three in the final minute. The fourth quarter saw a few small runs from the Knights to get the margin down to 9, but they were never able to get any closer.
Eye-Catching Stat Lines
Taiyanna Jackson ended the game with 29 points and 10 rebounds, with her final rebound coming with just a couple seconds left in the game. Seven of those rebounds came on the offensive end, giving Kansas multiple chances to push their lead. She also had 4 blocks.
Zakiyah Franklin finished the game with 16 points on 14 shots, adding 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 1 steal.
S'mya Nichols had 14 points on just 8 shots, but she struggled with foul trouble much of the night.
Kansas dominated in the paint 44-28 and had 24 points off of turnovers, compared to just 10 for the Knights.
Area of Improvement
There really isn't much to worry about from this game, as Holly Kersgieter's off night on the offense wasn't a big deal, and the absence of Wyvette Mayberry forced enough changes in the approach to make it difficult to point to anything that would be worrying moving forward.
Takeaways
There isn't much new here, as we all knew the Jackson can absolutely take over a game. And if Kansas can handle a team like UCF on the road with one starter struggling and another on the bench, then it's hard to take much from the game. The real test will come on Saturday against an Oklahoma team that has already clinched the outright regular season Big 12 title.
Up Next
With the win, Kansas improves to 17-11 on the season and 10-7 in Big 12 play.
Kansas comes home for the senior night matchup against the Oklahoma Sooners. A win would probably clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament and would send the seniors out with their second straight home win to end the year. Tipoff is scheduled for Saturday at 4pm and the game will be broadcast on Big 12 NOW on ESPN+.
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