Despite published accounts that Kansas University basketball player J.R. Giddens instigated a fight last week outside a Lawrence bar, exactly what happened that night remains far from clear.

Two of those injured in the melee gave the Journal-World and 6News wildly differing accounts Friday about how the brawl began outside the Moon Bar, 821 Iowa. And police, who continue to piece together accounts from more than 20 witnesses, said it was too soon to draw conclusions or seek charges.

Capt. Dan Affalter, who supervises Lawrence Police Department detectives, said alcohol could confuse matters whenever something happened at closing time at a bar.

“Everybody has their own version of it,” Affalter said. “Some people may be biased. Some people may be outright untruthful. … The story the media gets may not even be the same story the witness gave to us.”

Affalter declined to discuss any of the versions police were hearing.

“I don’t want to spread rumors,” he said. “I’m not in the rumor business.”

The Kansas City Star reported Friday that witnesses described Giddens as the instigator of an attack on 24-year-old Jeremiah Creswell, who is 5-foot-9, 150 pounds.

The paper also quoted Creswell saying he was jumped by a group of men including Giddens and wielded a knife to defend himself.

KU athletic department officials said they would do nothing until police finished their investigation.

“We’ve heard 20,000 to 25,000 different versions,” of what happened, said athletic director Lew Perkins. “We have confidence in the police department. We agreed to stay out of it. It’s their business, not ours. Until we get the report, we have no reaction at all. We agreed to let the police do the job. It should not be done through the newspapers. Once we get the information, we will react. This is a very serious matter, and we will address it.”

KU men’s basketball coach Bill Self said he had taken no action against Giddens.

“I have not dismissed J.R. from the team, and he was not arrested (Friday), just like I told you (Thursday) night,” Self said. “I hope people are patient enough to hear what the police findings are.

“We need to know what happened to create such a melee. Certainly our guys, our athletes, should face the same consequences as any individual if found guilty of a criminal act. Nobody will get special treatment, but I’m not the jury.”

Reached by the Journal-World on Friday night, Giddens said he had no comment.

Among those cited in the Star article were Lawrence residents Marcus Knight, 29, and his cousin, Preston Patterson, 27, who said they were injured by Creswell’s knife after they jumped in to try to break up the fight.

Knight said he was angry at Giddens and that it was Giddens’ fight, the Star reported. But when interviewed Friday by 6News, Knight said Giddens was not an instigator and he never saw Giddens throw a punch.

“His role in it is not the role everybody’s saying,” said Knight, who said he didn’t know Giddens personally.

Knight and Patterson are consistent on at least one thing, however: Giddens directly was involved in the confrontation in the moments before the fight. Patterson said Giddens was shouting obscenities; Knight said Giddens was “running his mouth and carrying on.”

Knight’s version is that he and Patterson jumped into the fight only after 10 or 12 people attacked Creswell outside the bar. He said it was an unknown person in the crowd — not Giddens — who threw the first punch.

Patterson’s version is that he saw Giddens and Creswell squaring off about 15 feet from each other. When Giddens and Creswell started a one-on-one fight, Patterson said, that’s when he and Knight jumped in to try to break them up.

Patterson said he had no knowledge of other people being involved in the fight.

“When I saw it, it was just four people: me, my relative, Giddens and Creswell,” he said.

Apparently, both Patterson and Knight were injured by a folding knife wielded by Creswell. Knight said Creswell had his head down and was swinging the knife, not knowing where he was cutting, when he slashed both Patterson and Knight in their midsections.

“I feel it was self-defense,” Knight said. “Any normal person would probably pull something out if more than five people came after them.”

Patterson, 27, interviewed at his home Friday, spent nearly a week at Lawrence Memorial Hospital before being released Wednesday.

He said he got involved in the altercation because he’s a “KU addict” and didn’t want to see Giddens get into any trouble.

“I knew where it could lead,” Patterson said. “When you get a scholarship of that caliber, you’ve got rules and regulations you have to follow.”

Giddens suffered a severed artery in his calf.

Affalter said he didn’t know how long it would take for detectives to finish their report. It would depend in part on how long it took them to reach witnesses, some of whom have left town.

“It’s going to be a while, and we’re nowhere near calling it a complete investigation or saying, ‘This is the guy that did everything,'” Affalter said.

Chester Giles, father of Kansas University basketball player C.J. Giles, said it’s true his son was at the scene of the fight, but he said the younger Giles’ role was minimal.

“He’s not really involved. If it is, he’s after the fact,” the elder Giles said. “It’s just him going to the aid of his teammate, but after the fact, not initially. … He gave a statement on the whole thing afterward with police.”

Chester Giles, himself a former KU basketball player, said he wasn’t concerned about the fight hurting the school’s image.

“You’re dealing with young men in college,” he said. “Those things happen.”

— Staff writer Gary Bedore contributed to this report.