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Kansas basketball to face Wichita State in regular season for first time in 21st century

By Joshua Schulman

Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Wichita State Shockers guard Fred VanVleet (23) drives to the basket past Kansas Jayhawks guard Brannen Greene (14) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 22, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Wichita State Shockers guard Fred VanVleet (23) drives to the basket past Kansas Jayhawks guard Brannen Greene (14) during the second half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /
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A bygone Kansas basketball rivalry will be revived this year when the Jayhawks and the Wichita State Shockers face off in the regular season.

The last time Wichita State played the Kansas Jayhawks was in a heartbreaking NCAA Tournament loss back in 2015. Now, the two schools have scheduled a one-time regular season matchup on Dec. 29.

It is the first time the Shockers and Jayhawks will face off in the regular season since 1993. Between then and 1984, they played each other yearly, with Kansas taking eight of the nine contests.

This game had not yet been added when Kansas released its nonconference schedule, as official details for the event were still being sorted out.

Although it should be an exciting competition, this is only expected to be a one-year thing. This pairing was highly requested by fans of both universities for quite some time, and it will serve as a NIL fundraiser for each school’s collectives.

The Shockers are entering their first year with new head coach Paul Mills after firing Isaac Brown this offseason, who had been in Wichita since 2020. Mills, 51, coached one of the top mid-majors in the nation, Oral Roberts, for six seasons. He led them to a Sweet Sixteen appearance as a No. 15 seed in 2021.

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With Kansas expected to rank No. 1 or No. 2 in preseason rankings, WSU certainly has a tough task at hand. They just lost their leading scorer Jaykwon Walton to the transfer portal, who eventually committed to the latest Big 12 addition, UCF.

The game will be played on a neutral site at T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. It is the final game Kansas plays before heading into conference play. Wichita State will have its fair share of in-state rivalry games in 2023-24, considering they play Kansas State on Dec. 22.

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