BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 5, 2025

Brandon Schneider

Brittany Harshaw

Regan Williams

T-Mobile Center

Kansas Jayhawks

Postgame Press Conference

Texas Tech 57, Kansas 53

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Kansas Head Coach, student-athletes Brittany Harshaw and Regan Williams. Coach?

BRANDON SCHNEIDER: I think as a coach I have been really proud of how our team has defended the last two games, being as short-handed as we are. Really down to eight players, and tonight S'Mya was probably at 40%. So felt really good about how we defended, just didn't have enough offensive punch to make enough baskets or free throws to win a game.

Q. Coach, you lost S'Mya there in the middle part of the third quarter. Any status update on her?

BRANDON SCHNEIDER: She is just extremely banged up after a very long, physical season. She has logged a lot of minutes, and with our lack of depth just hasn't had enough rest, and particularly in games. I don't think it's anything that, you know, a few weeks of recovery will -- she is okay. I don't think there is structurally anything wrong.

Q. Brittany, obviously a game where offense was hard to come by for both teams. You stepped up in the third and fourth quarter and kept your team in it. What was working for you offensively where you both had defenses clicking?

BRITTANY HARSHAW: I would say more ball movement. We started moving the ball more, and we were getting more open shots. So just having the confidence to take those and having the belief in myself and knowing that my teammates belief in me, too.

Q. For all three, just what was the message after the game in the locker room, and also what's your takeaway from the season despite all the problems and injury issues that you had to manage throughout the season?

BRANDON SCHNEIDER: I think similar to what I said earlier, it's -- I think we're all really proud of how our young women have competed for each other, and particularly the last two games, despite a lot of adversity and -- throughout the season in terms of being shorthanded.

I think it makes it very difficult sometimes to continue to improve when you have such limited practice, but these guys, especially on the defensive end, continued to grow and develop.

BRITTANY HARSHAW: Yeah, like he said, we're a young team. I think we still had a lot of positives even though we probably didn't get the outcome that we wanted. We've grown a lot over the season. We've gotten closer with each other, and overall just super proud of everyone, too.

REGAN WILLIAMS: I think a big emphasis was, you know, like maybe a game didn't go the way we wanted it to, everyone kept their heads up. No one was like, oh, it's over. Everyone held each other accountable, and we were all there for each other.

Q. With either the season over or potential NIT invite coming, what do you take from the end of the season with most of these players able to come back?

BRANDON SCHNEIDER: I think, you know, we had a player like Regan Williams who obviously made the All-Freshman Team and had a terrific year for us and I thought improved tremendously throughout the season.

We also had numerous other players who probably were in roles and played a lot more minutes than maybe they thought coming into the year due to injuries. And I think all that does is better position them from an experience standpoint to transition into whatever role that might be next year.

Q. Coach, looking back on the season as a whole, bright spots, winning the Paradise Jam, what was that like for you guys as a team?

BRANDON SCHNEIDER: I thought it was something that at that point in the season for sure that we needed to celebrate. We were very, very young. We had Wyvette Mayberry in that tournament, but we didn't have Brittany Harshaw. I definitely tell you we did not play a single game this year with a full complement of players. Jordan Webster is someone we recruited and had very high expectations for; didn't play in a single game.

Hopefully we will have better fortune next year when it comes to health and injuries.

Q. After the Utah game, before you guys were preparing for your first back-to-back road game stretch of the season, you mentioned that's life in the new Big 12 with an expanded conference. What was that like for you?

BRANDON SCHNEIDER: The five-day road trips were new for us. And, you know, you wish those could happen before school starts. I wish there was a way that we could figure out how to make that happen. It's tough, you know, we missed two of the first three weeks of school with some of those road swings.

That's something I would like the league -- these young women probably don't want the league to reconsider, but I would like to have them in class as much as possible.

Q. Regan, Kansas campus isn't far from here, but what does it mean for you to be able to come back to your hometown and play in a tournament like this in front of friends and family?

REGAN WILLIAMS: It's a huge blessing, you know? The support, everyone around -- like the Kansas atmosphere is just crazy, you know? Everything about it is -- it's a blessing truly to be here, so I'm super proud to be in a Kansas jersey no matter what the outcome is, no matter what.

Q. Coach, in your first meeting with Texas Tech you relied on the pick and roll with Regan, got probably a dozen points from that. Didn't really go back to that today until probably the second quarter. What was your game plan coming in, especially with "L" not in the question tonight?

BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, I think we probably missed her numerous times, I thought, on some open rolls. We also had some situations in the first game where we were able to attack their pressure where they overplayed Regan, especially in the high post, and we were able to back-cut them. They softened that up, especially in this game, which put us in situations where those kind of things weren't available. I thought we got some good shots, obviously missed six free throws, had enough open opportunities to win the game, just didn't make enough baskets.

Q. Coach, while there are uncertain days ahead for you, Adam Strom has done some remarkable things and he's been very complimentary toward you. Do you have words or offerings of what he's been able to do with that program?

BRANDON SCHNEIDER: I would say that Adam has been a tremendous example for our profession, for the Lawrence community, but maybe most importantly for his young women in an era and a culture where people move on pretty easily these days from commitments, but Adam has stuck with his players. He has shown just incredible integrity and character in continuing to support them while not being paid.

It's a very, very frustrating situation for those of us in the business who believe that to invest in the education and the development of young people is something that should always be a priority. And in my opinion should never be part of budget cuts that impact people like Adam. He's not the only one throughout the country, unfortunately, but I have great respect for him and he's a credit to our profession.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much.