photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas forward Jaliya Davis yells out in celebration after making a block against Kansas State in Allen Fieldhouse on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026 in Lawrence.

In receiving yet another Big 12 freshman of the week honor on Monday afternoon, Kansas’ Jaliya Davis accomplished something just five players have in the last 18 seasons.

The award was the fourth in a row for Davis, an Overland Park native who has burst onto the scene in her first season with the Jayhawks.

The only other players who have earned four straight since the honor was renamed to “freshman of the week” for the 2009 season are Joyner Holmes (Texas, 2017); Ayoka Lee (Kansas State, 2020); Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (Baylor, 2023); and Delaney Gibb (BYU, 2025). A fifth, Courtney Paris, got four “rookie of the week” selections in 2006.

In short, Davis is in distinguished company.

The Blue Valley North High School graduate, a 6-foot-2 forward, was a five-star prospect, McDonald’s All-American and the top-rated recruit in KU’s much-discussed 2025 recruiting class, which was widely considered the best in program history. She played three times early in nonconference play, including a 28-point showing in 28 minutes in her second collegiate game against Northwestern State, but sat out from Nov. 15 to Jan. 1 as she was battling lower leg pain.

Since returning to the court for that Big 12 contest against West Virginia on Jan. 1, Davis has averaged 22 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. (Only Iowa State’s Audi Crooks is scoring more than Davis in conference games.) The Jayhawks lost in five of Davis’ first six appearances, including a 30-point showing against Oklahoma State on Jan. 14, but Monday’s weekly award came after back-to-back wins to get KU back on track.

Davis grabbed a career-best eight rebounds in victories at Arizona (last Tuesday) and against rival Kansas State (on Sunday) while putting up 25 and 22 points, respectively.

Her high-level production has been particularly significant in recent weeks as junior point guard, team leader and fellow Kansan S’Mya Nichols has battled an ankle injury for much of January. Nichols scored just one point on Sunday, but Davis, Elle Evans (14 points), Lilly Meister and Regan Williams (12 each) picked up the slack as the Jayhawks blew out the Wildcats, 83-61.

If Davis manages to garner a fifth straight freshman of the week selection, she will match Holmes and Lee for the most in a row by any player. Lee, by the way — the recently retired former K-State great who once set the Division I single-game scoring record with 61 points — had separate streaks of four and five awards during that 2019-20 season. She collected 12 honors over the course of 18 weeks.

The Jayhawks’ next game is on Thursday night at 5 p.m. on the road at No. 12 TCU.