Just 53 days ago, the BYU women’s basketball team suffered a 21-point loss at Kansas and fell to 16-7 on the season.
The loss closely preceded what became a turning point for the Cougars, who have now won eight of their past nine outings entering a rematch with those same Jayhawks on Monday.
But the stakes for this new BYU-Kansas battle are much higher than they were 53 days ago.
The Cougars and Jayhawks are facing off in the semifinals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament, or WBIT, as two of the last four remaining squads from the initial 32-team field.
Monday’s semifinal contest with be played at 3 p.m. MT at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas, a little more than 150 miles southwest of the Jayhawks’ home in Lawrence.
“Grateful to be here in Wichita. Grateful for this tournament. Grateful for the quality of the tournament and the quality of the teams that have been in,” BYU head coach Lee Cummard told reporters Sunday.
“It’s been a great experience for our group, and we’re looking forward to playing a very quality Kansas team that we’re familiar with tomorrow evening here in this arena. Just looking forward to it.”
What is the WBIT?
Now in its third season, the WBIT is the women’s equivalent of the men’s NIT event, becoming the NCAA’s second-tier tournament behind March Madness.
Holding a 22-11 record after the Big 12 tournament, BYU was the first team outside of the NCAA Tournament, thus earning a 1 seed in the WBIT.
The Cougars have made the most of their favorable seeding, earning victories over Alabama A&M, Missouri and Stanford in the tournament’s first three rounds by winning margins of 25, 18 and 15 points, respectively.
This will be BYU’s first-ever appearance in the Final Four of a major postseason tournament, and defeating Kansas would be the first time the Cougars have ever won four postseason games in a single season.
While it was surely disappointing to miss the NCAA Tournament, the WBIT has offered underclassmen-heavy BYU the opportunity to earn extended tournament experience, which will prove especially valuable in coming years as the Cougars’ current core continues to grow and develop.
And why not capture a championship in the process?
“I think the chemistry has been building all year with the group that’s starting and playing the most minutes, and I think that’s starting to show at least in this tournament very well,” Cummard said.
BYU star point guard Delaney Gibb has taken her play to another level in the WBIT, averaging 22.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists in each of the three outings while shooting 54.5% from 3-point range.
“She’s the face of this team. Obviously she scores a lot of points, but she also has a really big role of just keeping us connected and tied together because she is such a great player,” said Cougars forward Brinley Cannon.
“I think she’s held that role and position with a lot of grace and in a really selfless way. I think when you have really good players doing that, then it’s contagious for the rest of the team.”
A familiar foe
While Kansas did beat BYU back in February and entered the WBIT with a higher NET ranking, BYU has actually enjoyed a better overall campaign than the Jayhawks.
Kansas is currently 22-13, having gone 8-10 in Big 12 play and 1-1 in the conference tournament compared with BYU’s own respective marks of 25-11, 9-9 and 2-1.
In their WBIT wins over Troy, Rice and San Diego State, the 2-seeded Jayhawks scored an average of 75.3 points and allowed 67.6 defensively.
BYU’s Feb. 4 loss to Kansas saw the Cougars shoot a putrid 30% from the field — 10.5% less than their current season average — with the Jayhawks winning the rebound battle by a convincing 49-31 margin.
That Kansas loss began a slide of four setbacks in five games for the Cougars before their recent surge.
“I think it’s one of the things that I’d like to take away from this year, is when we faced some adversity, we didn’t go away from each other, we kind of got tighter as a group,” Cummard said. “(I’m) really proud of the way the resiliency and the grit of the group came together and turned inward and doubled down on each other as a group. From there, we’ve been playing really good basketball.”
“We’ve been aggressive. I think the confidence level has increased drastically with the group, and again, I’ll point to that chemistry, it’s been really apparent over the last eight (wins) of our last nine (games), and it’s against real high-quality opponents.”
No Sunday practice for BYU
While its three fellow WBIT Final Four teams will practice on Sunday ahead of Monday’s semifinals, BYU will have the day off.
Owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, BYU holds a policy of not taking part in any athletic events on Sundays.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a practice or a game, the regular season or the postseason. BYU does not back down from its no-Sunday stance.
“We’re a program of faith. It’s not just (the Latter-day Saint) faith. There’s several faiths represented within our program, and we have that Sabbath day for everybody to kind of reflect and have the day off, have it to themselves to do what they want,” Cummard said.
“It’s something that I really value, that I know every Sabbath day or Sunday I’m going to be at home with my wife and kids and be able to worship the way that I choose.”
Some may view not practicing Sunday before Monday’s game as a disadvantage for BYU, but the Cougars couldn’t disagree more.
“I think when you step back and look at it from a perspective of our team and the culture that we’ve built and the faith that we have, it’s a day that we get to have a different perspective on life, and there’s things that are bigger than basketball,” Gibb said.
“Jesus Christ and having faith in him is something that’s bigger than basketball, so for us, it’s an opportunity to step away from kind of the worldly things and focus on the relationship that we are building with our Lord and Savior. Whether that be whatever you believe in, it’s just a day to be able to represent that and just focus on things that might be a little more important than the game that we play and we love.”
Added Cannon, “I think for me, personally, it’s just a day to rest, reflect and just recenter my life on Jesus Christ and what he’s done for me and for all of us. Honestly, I think it really helps to have that day for us to come back Monday, everyone’s rejuvenated, everyone’s kind of had their break and rested and recentered and is ready to focus.
“For me, that’s kind of the way I’ve lived my whole life, so honestly, I don’t think that there’s a ton of cons that come with that.”
