Kansas freshman Zsofia Telegdy didn’t realize quite how big her 3-pointer in Wednesday’s win over Washington actually was until long after the game.
And, in reality, given the fact that the Jayhawks went on to drub Washington by 25 points, a bucket that delivered three points midway through the first quarter does not exactly jump out as huge in the big picture.
But it was at the time and it played a key role in helping the KU women advance to Saturday’s WNIT championship game against Columbia, slated for 4:30 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.
KU coach Brandon Schneider said after the game that he thought Telegdy’s triple from the right wing “took the lid off the basket.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” the Kansas freshman from Hungary said following the win. “After I shot that I noticed that everyone was a little bit more relaxed and like, ‘Yeah, we can make shots.’ I only realized that after the game, though. (During the game), it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re scoring.'”
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None of her teammates or coaches were surprised that Telegdy was ready for that moment. After all, she was recruited to KU to play the stretch-4 position and, during her younger days, she had competed for Hungary at both the U16 FIBA European Championships in 2019 and at the U19 World Cup in 2021.
If there was any surprise, it came from the fact that Telegdy temporarily hesitated to release the shot even though she was wide open for several seconds before shooting.
“That was just the freshman just accepting the moment, relaxing and just shooting the shot she shoots all the time,” KU guard Zakiyah Franklin said Wednesday night. “Sofi knows that we have a lot of confidence in her. Those shots, she shoots in practice all the time and it goes in pretty much 80% of the time.”
Kansas freshman Zsofia Telegdy drives the ball against Nebraska during the Super 16 round of the WNIT on Monday, March 23, 2023.
For the season, Telegdy has now made five 3-pointers. But her confidence has grown even if her minutes have remained limited. All that matters to her is that she does what’s expected of her when she gets the opportunity.
That goal was accomplished by several KU bench players during the team’s latest victory. Sophomore guard Sanna Strom, of Sweden, and junior center Nadira Eltayeb, both checked in with Telegdy early in the game in hopes of giving the Jayhawks a spark.
And while it was Telegdy who made the biggest plays — Schneider gushed over her backdoor assist that showed off her confidence, feel and IQ — the other two KU reserves also earned high marks from their coach.
“Sometimes as a player that comes off the bench, it’s better to not be noticed,” Schneider said. “I thought all three of them just checked in and followed their assignments and tried to play to the best of their ability.”
It was that approach that helped Telegdy deliver when the 3-point shot presented itself. The fact that the shot clock was winding down encouraged her to shoot, and she said the shot felt good when it left her hands.
“When I shot it, I didn’t really think about it,” she said. “Looking back, I was like, ‘How did I do that?’ But, with the crowd that we had, it just felt natural.”
Telegdy, who attended Trinity Christian School in Sharpsburg, Georgia, before coming to KU, said she has loved every aspect of her freshman season. The learning. The bond with her teammates. The opportunity to play. And now the feeling of playing in front of a packed house with one more game to come.
“I’ve never played in front of that many people, but it definitely helped,” she said of the 7,229 fans who filled Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. “I never really thought of myself as like someone who would get nervous in front of a big crowd, but it definitely gave me a little adrenaline.”
Chance Parker/Journal-World photo
