Wbit semifinal ends with a rally—and a rules contradiction Kansas says it wasn’t prepared for

A 70-67 game decided by three 3-pointers and a late review became something else in the Wbit: a test of whether teams and staffs can keep up with a challenge process that Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider called “all new to us” in the final seconds.

What swung the Wbit semifinal after Kansas led for nearly three quarters?

Monday afternoon at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas, 1-seed BYU rallied late to defeat 2-seed Kansas 70-67 and move into the WBIT Championship game. BYU trailed by five with 10 minutes to go, then outscored Kansas 24-16 in the fourth quarter and created separation with a 13-2 run down the stretch.

The decisive stretch centered on perimeter shot-making. With Kansas leading 56-54 and 5: 30 remaining, BYU hit three 3-point buckets in the middle of the fourth quarter that flipped the game. Freshman guard Olivia Hamlin made a 3-pointer to put BYU ahead; freshman guard Sydney Benally followed with a 3-pointer a minute later and then made another from beyond the arc on the next possession to build a 63-56 advantage.

BYU’s box-score leaders reflected that surge. Hamlin led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting with four 3-pointers, and Benally added 15 points with four made triples, including the back-to-back 3s that pushed the lead to 63-56 with 3: 49 remaining. Delaney Gibb posted 12 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, and Lara Rohkohl delivered nine points, 14 rebounds, and six blocks. BYU also outrebounded Kansas 37-33.

For Kansas, the late push was real but came after the lead had slipped. After falling behind by as many as nine points with 59 seconds left, Kansas closed the gap on a pair of layups by freshman forward Jaliya Davis, a 3-pointer from junior guard Brittany Harshaw, and two free throws from junior guard S’Mya Nichols that shrank the margin to one possession.

Did the rulebook decide the ending more than execution?

The final seconds were defined by a sequence that turned a live-ball scramble into a replay challenge—and then into confusion over where the ball would be inbounded. After Nichols’ free throws made it a one-possession game, BYU inbounded to Benally, who had the ball poked away by Kansas senior guard Sania Copeland. Copeland was called for a foul, which would have sent BYU to the line with three seconds left.

Under WBIT rules, teams can challenge foul calls. Schneider chose to challenge in that moment. After a short review, officials determined there was no foul and awarded the ball to the Jayhawks under the basket.

Schneider said Kansas expected the ball to be inbounded from the sideline, and he described a communication gap during the review process. “While they were at the challenge, as a staff, we felt like it should have been at the sideline, ” Schneider said. He added that Kansas asked for clarity before the monitor review—“If we win the challenge, is it our ball?”—and received an answer of “We’re not sure, this is all new to us, ” which Schneider called “completely understandable. ” But he said the team discussed a sideline play during the timeout, then the ball went to the baseline. Schneider noted Kansas has a baseline play for that situation, but said it was not discussed in the timeout.

What is verifiable in the Wbit record is the sequence itself: a foul call, a challenge, a reversal, and an inbound location that Kansas’ coach said differed from the staff’s expectation. What cannot be verified from the available record is any additional clarification Schneider said he wanted afterward, since his comments in the provided material end mid-thought.

Who benefits from the Wbit’s challenge procedure—and who is exposed?

BYU benefited directly in the outcome because the team had already built a cushion with late 3-point shooting and held on to win. The Cougars’ fourth-quarter execution is also documented in the scoring: they erased a five-point deficit entering the final 10 minutes and finished with a three-point victory. In the bigger picture, BYU’s win set program milestones. The Cougars have now won four postseason games in the same season for the first time in program history and will play for their first postseason tournament championship on Wednesday.

Kansas, on the other hand, was exposed to the downside of a late-game rules dispute: a high-leverage moment where staff preparation and officiating procedure intersect. Schneider’s response shows a coach trying to navigate a mechanism he described as unfamiliar in real time, while still managing end-of-game strategy. The immediate implication for Kansas was operational—what play to call and from where—at the exact moment when there was no margin for error.

Individual matchups also shaped who gained leverage during the game. Kansas and BYU had played earlier in the season at Allen Fieldhouse, a game Kansas won 81-60. BYU head coach Lee Cummard said BYU made it a point to contain Davis this time. In the semifinal, Cummard said BYU crowded Davis and held her to eight points on 2-of-7 shooting and one rebound in the second half, though she finished with 18 total points.

What the facts show—and what remains unresolved

Verified fact: BYU defeated Kansas 70-67 at Charles Koch Arena in the WBIT semifinals after a fourth-quarter rally that included a 13-2 run and three crucial 3-pointers in the final 5: 30.

Verified fact: Kansas initiated a challenge to a foul call with three seconds left. The review overturned the foul and resulted in Kansas being awarded the ball under the basket. Schneider said Kansas expected a sideline inbound and described uncertainty communicated to his staff during the review process.

Informed analysis (clearly labeled): The contradiction at the center of this ending is not the existence of replay challenges, but the operational gap Schneider described: a procedure that can change possession and inbound spot while coaches are simultaneously trying to diagram the last play. In a one-possession Wbit game, the process itself becomes part of competitive readiness—especially when the staff believes one inbound location is coming and another arrives.

Informed analysis (clearly labeled): The result also underscores how quickly execution can be eclipsed by process. Kansas’ late shots and free throws pulled the margin from nine to three, but the lasting debate from this semifinal may focus on whether the challenge procedure and its communication points are standardized enough for a staff to make the right call under time pressure.

What accountability looks like after this ending

The next step is transparency: a clear, written explanation of how the Wbit challenge process determines possession and inbound location in this exact scenario, and what information is communicated to each bench during review. Schneider’s comments make plain that, in his view, the process was unfamiliar in a defining moment. If the goal of replay is competitive fairness, then competitive clarity must be part of the mechanism—not an afterthought revealed at the baseline with seconds left.

BYU moves on to play for the championship on Wednesday, and Kansas’ season ends with a 70-67 loss. But the final possession dispute ensures this Wbit semifinal will be remembered not only for Hamlin’s and Benally’s shot-making, but for the unresolved question Schneider raised: when a challenge is won, what exactly should a team be told—before the ball is handed over?