Teahan to play Tuesday; teammates say Little, Releford likely red-shirting / LJWorld.com

Archive for Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Kansas guard Conner Teahan gets up for a pass over Pittsburg State guard Spencer Magana (2) but can't hang on during the first half Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 at Allen Fieldhouse.

By Gary Bedore

November 10, 2009, 6:35 p.m. Updated November 10, 2009, 10:12 p.m.

Kansas University junior Conner Teahan will play in Tuesday's KU-Pittsburg State game, KU coach Bill Self said before the game on his Jayhawk Network pregame radio interview.

This means Teahan will not red-shirt this season.

Meanwhile, senior Mario Little and sophomore Travis Releford will not play Tuesday. Self said no decision would be made on their red-shirt status until sometime before Friday's regular-season opener against Hofstra.

"Much to our fans' surprise, I have had a hard time making my mind up," Self said with a laugh in his pregame interview. "Conner will play. We talked through it a lot. Travis and 'Rio ... I think I know what direction it will go. They want to give it a little more time. They'll definitely not play tonight. It's been a talked-out process with them. We're all on the same page.

"There's no advantage to announcing something today," Self added. He said somebody could always "tweak an ankle" before the start of the regular season.

Though it's not officially official, a few of the KU players after the game hinted that both Little and Releford were planning on taking redshirts this season.

Self said it wasn't 100-percent determined yet, but said, "That's probably the percentage play with both of them right now."

Non-freshman players cannot play in exhibition games or regular-season games if they wish to red-shirt.