Late Night in the Phog is inevitably new to a few first-time Kansas Jayhawks every year, and they get to take in the pageantry that begins every year of KU basketball.
“This has always been one of the highlights of each and every team, of each and every year,” KU men’s basketball coach Bill Self said during the event. “We have the best tipoff in all of college basketball right here in Lawrence, Kansas.”
This year, though, the festivities held an element of novelty for everyone on the roster, as it served as their formal reintroduction to Allen Fieldhouse.
“The building’s great,” Self said afterward. “It’s great, and we hadn’t even seen it finished. You hadn’t even seen graphics, you hadn’t seen the stuff that’s going to make it look even better.”
Players and fans alike got their most extended look at the results of the $50 million renovation project, with its new video boards, seating and concourse amenities, on a night that featured the usual lighthearted spirit but also some brief glimpses of basketball.
“We may not look great tonight,” Self told the assembled crowd, “but we’ve got a roster you’re absolutely going to love.”
After a series of skits and dances, when it came time for the Jayhawks to play some basketball, they put on a far more adept display than the one that had drawn Self’s ire at last year’s Late Night.
High-flying five-star freshman center Flory Bidunga, whom Self has called KU’s best prospect, arguably stole the show. His teammates were clearly eager to lob the ball up to him at every conceivable opportunity, and Bidunga rewarded them in kind with a series of dunks, including one in the final moments of the 15-minute scrimmage. He finished with 13 points.
His teammate Dajuan Harris Jr. had already scored the go-ahead layup with 33 seconds left, and the blue team, led by that pairing and also featuring transfers Rylan Griffen and AJ Storr, finished with a 30-26 victory.
Senior KJ Adams put up a solid showing of his own with a team-high 10 points for the crimson squad, and told the fans postgame, “Hopefully we can do good enough to put another banner up there.”
Walk-on Rice transfer Noah Shelby and Northern Illinois transfer David Coit hit two 3s each to help escalate the scoring down the stretch. The crimson team scored 11 straight at one point before Bidunga put up seven consecutive points on his own.
“I’m not going to leave out of here mad,” Self said of the quality of play. “I thought it was OK. First time in lights and guys nervous and stuff, I thought it was OK.”
Return to the Fieldhouse
Allen Fieldhouse welcomed its new capacity of 15,300 fans for the first time since the very recent conclusion of its renovation project.
“Thanks to so many workers through Turner and other construction companies working 70 hours a week the last two or three months, (it) put us in a position to be here tonight,” Self said.
On a tour for media members earlier on Friday, athletic director Travis Goff said one of the primary goals was to “make sure 1 through 15,300,” rather than a specific segment of fans, would benefit.
The results were clear at Late Night, particularly in areas like the significantly tidier, wider and more modernized third-floor concourse. Goff acknowledged that in previous years the third floor, despite about half of fans having to enter through it, had been “crowded, dark, dingy” with “giant mechanical equipment stacked on top of you,” while it now features a polished look in line with the rest of the renovated arena.
Also included in that “1 through 15,300” objective were students. As KU removed some older bleachers from the top of the facility it also fit in two new rows on both sides behind the basket to maintain the overall student capacity, which Goff said “just affords more people a chance to be on top of and have a greater impact on what’s going on on the court, both for our men and our women.”
“The beauty, I think, of the outcome is that it does really move the needle for each and every one of our patrons,” he said, “including every single student that will step foot in here.”
The new-look arena includes some measures of disability access that were previously unattainable as Goff said it had “long been one of the least accessible facilities out there.” Now the amount of accessible seating has doubled and goes far beyond the previous options located near the basket to include midcourt and corner options, and KU also added an elevator.
“You’re able to take in a basketball game in a way that we’ve never been able to offer,” Goff said.
Recruiting update
One group that did not experience Late Night in the usual numbers was recruits.
The 2025 prospects Sebastian Williams-Adams and Isaiah Denis canceled their scheduled visits in the lead-up to the event, according to JayhawkSlant.com, leaving 2026 small forward Jalen Montonati, from Owasso, Oklahoma, as the lone expected visitor on the men’s side. The women’s team entertained a somewhat larger contingent including 2025 five-star Keeley Parks, per multiple reports.
Self explained earlier in the week that changes in the calendar, including the delayed positioning of Late Night this year, encouraged the KU men’s basketball staff to get prospects in whenever possible rather than centering visits on one particular event.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
