For the second year in a row, the Kansas men’s basketball team will test its mettle in a hostile road environment long before the games start to count.
KU heads down to Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday night to battle with the new-look Razorbacks in a charity exhibition benefiting mental health organizations.
As much attention as the Jayhawks received over the course of the spring and summer as they reeled in one high-profile transfer after another, Arkansas may have garnered even more, as it found itself thrust into the spotlight after head coach Eric Musselman (architect of a second-round upset over KU in 2023) left for USC and the Razorbacks improbably poached Kentucky’s Hall of Fame head coach John Calipari as a replacement.
The game between KU and Arkansas doesn’t count in the standings, but like when KU went to Illinois last season, it’ll provide an extremely early indication of how ready the Jayhawks are to compete with a new-look roster. They lost last year’s charity exhibition — point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. said on Wednesday that it motivates him more to get a preseason win this time around — and this year’s could present an even bigger challenge.
The Jayhawks could be somewhat depleted, with Mississippi State guard Shakeel Moore still finishing up his recovery from an offseason injury and Hunter Dickinson and Rylan Griffen also uncertain for Friday due to minor ailments of their own. On the other hand, the Razorbacks are also far from full strength, with Calipari stating last week that Arkansas would have “a bunch of guys out” and has had only six rotation players to use in practice, per Whole Hog Sports.
Injuries aside, the SEC’s preseason media poll ranks Arkansas fourth, and the AP Top 25 put it at No. 16 in the country, demonstrating a level of confidence in the fresh roster Calipari assembled after a totally different team last season had produced the Razorbacks’ first losing season in 14 years.
Indeed, with the exception of Musselman holdover Trevon Brazile — who didn’t even play against KU in the 2023 NCAA Tournament because he had suffered a season-ending injury — this roster looks more similar to the Kentucky team the Jayhawks played in the Champions Classic last November than any latter-day Arkansas squad. Junior Adou Thiero played arguably the best game of his career that day in Chicago with 16 points and 13 rebounds, and sophomore D.J. Wagner is also a familiar face.
The 7-foot-2 big man from Croatia, Zvonimir Ivišić, became eligible to play for Kentucky midway through last season and joined Calipari at Arkansas, and the Razorbacks also brought over several key freshman recruits who had previously been committed to Kentucky, including McDonald’s All-Americans Boogie Fland and Karter Knox as well as highly touted Billy Richmond III.
The biggest difference makers of all, though, could be those who never wore Wildcat Blue. Seniors Jonas Aidoo and Johnell Davis both earned second-team All-SEC preseason selections.
Aidoo, a 6-foot-11 forward, was an intraconference defection after he was an all-league pick at Tennessee, where he averaged 11.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks as a junior in his first full season as a starter.
Davis became one of the portal’s most highly sought-after transfers following Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May’s departure for Michigan. One of the centerpieces of the Owls’ recent rise to prominence — which featured a Final Four run in 2023 — Davis went from C-USA sixth player of the year that season to AAC co-player of the year in 2024. The 6-foot-4 guard stuffed the stat sheet with 18.2 points, including 41.4% shooting from deep, and 6.3 rebounds.
The chance for fans to see all these players in action together under Calipari’s guidance for the first time (if they are healthy, of course) should make for an intense atmosphere, far beyond the usual preseason standards, at Bud Walton Arena.
Even if it won’t officially break the tie between Calipari and Bill Self, who have split 12 all-time matchups, including a pair of national title games.
And even if, as Self said on Wednesday, it’ll feature some quirks in its format — it’ll be played in quarters instead of halves and could feature stoppages for coaching or to implement specific situations.
No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks vs. No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks (exhibition)
• Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 8 p.m.
• Broadcast: SEC Network
• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KMXN FM 92.9)
John Calipari answers questions from reporters during a press conference after being introduced as the new Arkansas head basketball coach Wednesday, April 10, 2024, in Fayetteville, Ark.
Kentucky guard Adou Thiero (3) shoots past Mississippi State guard Shawn Jones Jr. (5) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Starkville, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Florida Atlantic’s Johnell Davis (1) drives against Northwestern’s Ryan Langborg (5) during the first half of a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament, Friday, March 22, 2024, in New York.
Tennessee forward Jonas Aidoo dunks over Saint Peter’s forward Mouhamed Sow during the first half of a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 21, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C.
Keep an eye out
Minutes for all: After initially suggesting at KU’s media day that KU might not be able to play a non-freshman player (i.e., in this case, Jamari McDowell) in its exhibition games against Arkansas and Washburn while still preserving his ability to redshirt, Self reversed course on Friday, stating that he had learned that day that everyone can play in the exhibitions. The pair of preseason matchups could go a long way toward determining McDowell’s fate for the upcoming season, given that Self said he recently spoke with the sophomore guard’s family and told them they would see how things played out. Self also hasn’t ruled out freshman Rakease Passmore as a redshirt candidate — and there are certainly a lot of off-ball guards on the roster — but said center Flory Bidunga “obviously won’t.”
Road warriors: In retrospect, the Jayhawks’ loss at a lower-ranked Illinois team last preseason could have served as an omen of things to come given just how poorly they performed on the road over the course of the season. After rallying to win their lone true nonconference road game at Indiana, they proceeded to go 2-7 away from home in the Big 12, including stunning upset losses at UCF and West Virginia early on and then 29- and 30-point losses down the stretch. Taking on and defeating a ranked team in its home gym, even in October, would signal some level of improvement in this regard. Self said setting up his team in a road environment is the reason why they scheduled the exhibition in the first place.
Point void: With Elmarko Jackson out for the year and Moore recovering from an offseason injury that should have him back up to speed at the start of November, Northern Illinois transfer David Coit has a chance to eat up all the backup point guard minutes behind Dajuan Harris Jr. (South Dakota State transfer Zeke Mayo could potentially handle the ball as well.) If Self holds true to his claim that he wants to play Harris under 30 minutes per game, that could mean a full quarter of the game for the aggressive, high-scoring, diminutive Coit. Self has called him the team’s best perimeter scorer in recent days, and he could have a chance to prove that as early as Friday.
Off-kilter observation
Self said on the ESPN+ broadcast of Late Night in the Phog that when he and Calipari first spoke about staging this exhibition, Self wanted it to raise money for name, image and likeness, only to find out that wasn’t permitted. He added at Big 12 media day that KU’s future participation in such preseason exhibitions could depend on NCAA rules about such NIL games.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
AP Photo/Michael Woods
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
AP Photo/Chris Carlson