{"id":321980,"date":"2025-10-21T20:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/321980\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T20:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:00:13","slug":"jayhawks-reflect-on-recent-closed-door-scrimmage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/321980\/","title":{"rendered":"Jayhawks reflect on recent closed-door scrimmage"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\t\t\t\t\tWomen’s Basketball\t\t\t\t
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\n Damon Young\/Kansas Athletics <\/p>\n

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Kansas guard S’Mya Nichols, center, listens to head coach Brandon Schneider during summer workouts in July.<\/p>\n


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Kansas City, Mo. \u2014 The Kansas women\u2019s basketball team returns nearly every significant contributor from last year\u2019s roster, so the Jayhawks have a lot of continuity entering the 2025-26 campaign.<\/p>\n

And even the Jayhawks\u2019 five newcomers \u2014 four highly touted freshmen and one transfer, Lilly Meister \u2014 have certainly become quite familiar with the program, and with their teammates, by this late stage of the offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re kind of at the grind point of the season,\u201d senior guard Elle Evans told the Journal-World, \u201cwhere we\u2019re kind of knowing each other\u2019s tendencies too, and even our practice players\u2019 tendencies, so it definitely gets to a point where it\u2019s hard to play against the same people every single day in and day out, but we know that\u2019s part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also, though, a point at which an event like what KU hosted over the weekend can be particularly useful. <\/p>\n

The Jayhawks welcomed Wichita State to Allen Fieldhouse for a closed-door scrimmage on Sunday. The Shockers, an opponent KU beat as part of its nonconference slate each of the last four seasons, twice in Lawrence and twice in Wichita, aren\u2019t on the schedule this year for the regular season. That created an opportunity for head coach Brandon Schneider to bring in former KU associate head coach Terry Nooner \u2014 also once a member of the KU men\u2019s basketball team \u2014 and his Shockers to town.<\/p>\n

KU\u2019s post-scrimmage social media post suggested the Jayhawks \u201cgot better today\u201d from battling Wichita State, and several players echoed that sentiment at Big 12 media days on Tuesday at the T-Mobile Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe things we\u2019ve been working on in practice, we were kind of able to see kind of how those things were translated,\u201d Evans said. \u201cI think we showed out a lot of great things on film. Obviously still have a lot to work on. But it was great to be in an environment that we\u2019re not playing against ourselves or our practice players.\u201d<\/p>\n

For freshman forward Jaliya Davis, in fact, it was the first time ever battling collegiate players in general, other than her teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s kind of what I expected, honestly, just being able to get out there and do what I know what to do,\u201d she said, \u201cand just make the right plays and do what I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

All 12 Jayhawks made it into the scrimmage, Schneider said. Star guard S\u2019Mya Nichols played just 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201c(We had) a lot of opportunity to get film of newcomers and even returners,\u201d Schneider said, \u201cand experiment with different lineups and how we want to go about kind of building a rotation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nichols enjoyed the reunion with Nooner, who played a key role in bringing her to KU in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always fun playing him,\u201d Nichols said. \u201cHe always has so much to say. I can hear him on his sideline: \u2018Pick her up at the free-throw line! Take her ball! Take her crossover!\u201d So it\u2019s always fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her main takeaway from the scrimmage, though, was simply the caliber of the Jayhawks\u2019 roster this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we\u2019re really good,\u201d Nichols said. \u201cWe have a lot of players that can contribute a lot of things, whether that\u2019s offensively or defensively, and I\u2019m so excited for our season to start, just to show that.\u201d<\/p>\n

KU has one more exhibition ahead, this time open to fans, against Fort Hays State on Oct. 29. Then the Jayhawks host Kansas City in their season opener on Nov. 5.<\/p>\n

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\"Author<\/p>\n

Written By Henry Greenstein<\/p>\n


\n Henry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism). Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off “California vibes,” whatever that means. <\/p>\n

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