Kansas University leaders criticized J.R. Giddens’ judgment Friday, the same day the Jayhawk basketball star was released from the hospital for injuries suffered early Thursday in a fight at a Lawrence bar.

“As individuals, we must accept responsibility for participation in an incident such as this, regardless of fault,” KU men’s basketball coach Bill Self said in a written statement. “This was a very unfortunate incident that could have been avoided with better judgment.”

Self declined to specify what discipline Giddens might face, saying he was still gathering information. Lawrence Police said Friday they also were still investigating the incident, but wouldn’t give a timeline for completion.

“We started with 20 people we need to interview,” Lawrence Police Sgt. Dan Ward said. “We expect that number to grow.”

Giddens was one of five people who went to Lawrence Memorial Hospital with knife wounds after the melee about 2:20 a.m Thursday outside the Moon Bar, 821 Iowa. Giddens’ associates said he underwent calf surgery for the injury. He is expected to be able to continue his basketball career.

Another alleged participant in the fight, a 24-year-old man, was booked into the Shawnee County Jail Thursday afternoon on unrelated charges. He had been sought for failing to appear at a March court date on criminal damage charges stemming from a September incident.

Giddens

Ronald Ruiz, the Moon Bar’s manager, said Friday he saw and heard nothing during the time of the altercation. At 1:45 a.m. Thursday, he said, bar employees shooed customers out of the establishment.

“Twenty or 30 minutes later, we were putting up chairs, and we heard there was an incident in the parking lot,” Ruiz said. He added: “It was a good night and there weren’t any problems.”

Giddens is not yet 21, but Ruiz said his bar wouldn’t have served alcohol to the basketball star.

“Everybody who comes through the doors gets stamps or Xs on their hands, so they know how old everybody is,” he said.

But KU Athletic Director Lew Perkins suggested that Giddens should’ve known better than to be at the Moon Bar.

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“Our job as members of the University of Kansas community is to have enough self-knowledge to know that, occasionally, impulse kicks in,” Perkins said in the statement jointly released with Self.

“We have two choices: one, find ways to control our impulses, or two, be sure to keep ourselves out of circumstances that are otherwise not conducive to making good choices.”

Despite the criticisms, Self and Perkins also expressed concern for Giddens.

“Our main concern,” Self said, “is not only the condition of J.R. but also the other individuals who were injured during this incident.”

Giddens was unavailable for comment.