Despite outscoring Kansas 23-15 in the third quarter, Arizona couldn’t overcome a 12-point halftime deficit, dropping its Big 12 matchup 80-69 to the Jayhawks at McKale Center on Tuesday evening.
Kansas was 11-8 overall and 1-6 in Big 12 play coming into the game. The Jayhawks’ only conference win was a 83-68 win over UCF on Jan. 4.
“I’m frustrated, I don’t like losing,” Arizona coach Becky Burke said. “I hate losing. I can’t stomach it, and we’re continuing to do that right now, not being able to find a way to pull these wins out that I feel like are within our grasp and within our fingertips.
“I’m just done with the ‘you fought hard and congrats.’ I’m a winning-results person, so it’s frustrating, despite all the circumstances. I don’t care about any of that. We’re in position to win some games. We need to be able to do that, pull that out. That’s my expectation daily.
“There are things to be optimistic about and happy about, but like I said, I’m a winner. I want to win and I know those are coming. I just think those can come sooner rather than later but we’ve got to be firing on all cylinders and playing our best basketball to even have a chance to win this year.”
Foul Trouble
“It was a frustrating game to be able to get into a flow and I just thought our players were getting called for every little thing,” Burke said of Arizona’s foul trouble throughout.
Arizona was called for 29 fouls to Kansas’ 15. The Jayhawks shot 25 free throws, making 18 of them. Arizona was 11 for 13 from the free throw line.
The Wildcats had three players foul out of the game.
Nora Francois fouled out at the end of the third quarter, and Sumayah Sugapong fouled out shortly thereafter.
Sugapong didn’t have a foul during the first half and accumulated five in the fourth quarter. Some of those fouls were a bit suspect including a call that looked like a clean block.
Achol Magot fouled out with 2:42 left, leaving the Wildcats with Blessing Adebanjo as the last big for Arizona. Adebanjo subbed in with four fouls.
“I don’t blame some of the emotions (from the players) — it was a very, very frustrating game to be a part of as a coach and then watching my players have to go through that,” Burke said. “We will send the clips in. We’ll watch the film ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, we were at fault for some of it.
“It’s hard when somebody’s standing in there for a charge and she’s planted for like, 30 seconds before the kid runs into her. Like, how do I correct that? It was a great play. It was called incorrectly, you know what I mean?”
Kamryn Kitchen bench points
Kamryn Kitchen came off the bench in the third quarter, sparking the Wildcat comeback.
Kitchen hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Jayhawks’ lead to four points.
“They were just sagging off the shooter,” Kitchen said. “I mean, we have good enough point guards to find me and get me the ball. I mean they were just sagging off really hard.”
On Kitchen’s performance, Burke said, “I thought she was confident.”
“She stayed in the game. You all (reporters) might think it was because she was making shots, but she was guarding. I’d have her on the floor for 40 minutes if she’ll guard that way,” Burke said.
Kitchen ended the game with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field (4 of 8 from 3-point range), two steals and a rebound.
McKale Effect
The McKale crowd stayed locked in throughout the game voicing their discontent on iffy fouls. The boos were loud but the cheers were even louder when Arizona started chipping away at the Jayhawks’ 12-point halftime lead.
McKale erupted when a turnover and a Lani Cornfield short jumper tied the game at 53 with 1:43 left in the third quarter.
Tie game!!! Tie game!! It’s 53 a piece with 1:43 left in the third! @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/Yh5ERTVTH5
— Lori Burkhart (@loriburkhart) January 21, 2026
Arizona wasn’t able to take the lead as Kansas was able to recover ending the quarter with a four-point lead.
The Jayhawks extended their lead in the fourth quarter.
“This was without question the loudest arena we’ve played in with the exception of Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State,” said Kansas coach Brandon Schneider about the McKale crowd.
Stats roundup
Sugapong led the team in scoring with 17 points. She added six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Cornfield notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists. She also had seven rebounds and two steals while only committing two turnovers.
Kitchen had 16 points, two steals and a rebound.
Next up:
Arizona travels to Ames, Iowa to take on the Iowa State Cyclones and All-American post player Audi Crooks and former Arizona guard Jada Williams on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The game will be televised on FS1. Williams transferred after last season before the coaching change occurred with Burke replacing Adia Barnes.
“We’ll have a great game plan … we will,” Burke said. “Went to TCU had a great game plan. We’ll have great game plan at Iowa State. I’m not going away from the fact that I believe there’s some wins left in our Big 12 season for this group.
“When we get them, it’ll feel like a million bucks, but it’s gonna take everything we got to get those few. So, you never know … it could be on Saturday if we do what we’re supposed to.”
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