Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor performs for the crowd during a New Edition skit.

Kansas University basketball combo guard Tyshawn Taylor, who lost his starting job twice — and regained it both times during a roller-coaster sophomore season — is hoping for a breakout junior campaign.

The 6-foot-3, 185-pounder out of Hoboken, N.J., is off to a solid start. He was the first player cited by coach Bill Self in assessing Friday’s Late Night in the Phog 20-minute scrimmage.

“I thought Tyshawn was terrific,” Self said after Taylor scored nine points off 4-of-8 shooting, dished two assists and grabbed two rebounds while playing 14 minutes in a 40-39 Blue-team victory over the Reds.

Taylor smiled when informed of his coach’s words of praise.

“I felt good. I was just playing, having fun,” Taylor said. “I always want to start off good and I always want to be consistent. I think it’s one of my biggest things for this year, being consistent. Hopefully the next time people see me, I’ll play just as well.”

Taylor’s next appearance before the fans will be in a Tuesday, Nov. 2 exhibition game against Washburn.

“Every day is motivation, especially for me,” said Taylor. He averaged 7.2 points a game with 121 assists against 61 turnovers last season following a frosh campaign in which he averaged 9.7 ppg with 104 assists versus 83 turnovers.

“I want to be a better person, player, leader. I’m on the right track so far. I’m just going to keep it going.”

Taylor realizes KU loses its on-court leader in point guard Sherron Collins, who is in camp of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats.

“I miss Sherron a lot, just his presence,” Taylor said. “I’ll miss him more on the court. It’s going to be a different situation this year. When the clock gets under 10, the ball is going to go to Sherron.

“Now it might be me the team looks for when the clock is under 10. It was his time. Now it’s our time.”

At times, Collins took his defender 1-on-1, either driving to the goal or hoisting a long-distance three to conclude a KU crunch-time possession.

“I don’t think it’s going to be done the same way,” Taylor said of situations as the clock expires. “I think we’ll get it done, but not the same way. You can’t teach stuff like that. Sherron just had ‘it.’ I’m getting better on three-pointers (after making 19 of 56 last year) but I don’t think coach will let me just dribble around and shoot it.

“We’ve got a lot of good shooters on this team. I’m sure somebody will deliver. What I love most about this team is it could be anybody. It could be Marcus (Morris) knocking down the big shot. It could be Markieff (Morris). It could be Mario (Little). Tyrel (Reed) is known for doing it. It could be Brady (Morningstar). It could be myself, Josh (Selby), anybody. It literally could be seven or eight guys make the big shot. I think that’s going to be fun.”

On-court leadership could come from a number of candidates … including Taylor.

“I think it’s a little nerve-wracking. It’s a situation I’ve never been in, even in high school (at St. Anthony in Jersey City, N.J.),” Taylor said. “I’m a little bit nervous, but excited at the same time. I get to show a little bit more of what I can do. When you are a player at this level, you dream of being in the position I’m in. I’m happy, excited, a little nervous. It’s kind of scary, but I’m excited.”

He’s also on an emotional high coming off the 26th-annual Late Night — in which the players showed off some dance moves for the umpteenth straight year.

“It was great, hilarious,” Taylor said. “People come to see us make fools of ourselves and that’s exactly what we did. We got a good laugh out there. I think we were all enthusiastic about it. It was fun.”

Taylor’s a guy who — to the media at least — always seems to be having fun. He talks in rapid-fire sentences and jokes a lot about himself and his teammates.

He glowed when asked about defeating the team’s best-conditioned player — Tyrel Reed — in a sprint or two at Self’s recent two-week Boot Camp.

“Tyrel can’t mess with me in the sprints, man,” Taylor said. “If we’re running a mile, he might get me. If we’re running court-length, I got him every time.

“Nah … Ty is fast. He’s the best conditioned player I’ve seen in my life,” he added in a more serious tone. “We run 20 sprints, he’ll run the same pace every sprint. I’ll run slow the 19, then the last one, I’ll kill him.”

Reed has the team’s top vertical leap at 42 inches.

“That’s what they say. I don’t trust the test they gave us,” Taylor cracked.

He also needled the Morris twins when asked about Marcus and Markieff working out on their own at 7 a.m., five days per week over the summer.

“I’ve never seen them running. I’ve definitely never seen them running. I’ve never been there when they were running,” he said. “But they’re here (in gym) a lot. When Marcus was gone (to various camps), ‘Kieff was in the gym a lot by himself. He did the biggest jump as far as being a better player. They both put in the work. Everything Marcus is getting … the magazine covers and nominations … I think he deserves. They are my brothers. We’ve been here three years. I’m excited for them and the team.”

McLemore visit ends: No. 17-rated Ben McLemore, a 6-5 senior from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., who attended Thursday’s KU-K-State football game, completed his official visit following Saturday morning’s practice.

“The University of Kansas is truly a class act,” McLemore’s AAU coach Darius Cobb, told Rivals.com. “He (Ben) talked about the fans at the football game that came up to him. He talked about hanging with the guys and how cool they were during his visit. This was his first Late Night and needless to say, it was as good as everybody said it would be.”

Cobb said McLemore would visit Tennessee next weekend and Missouri the following week. He said it was “up in the air” whether McLemore would sign in November or wait until April.

Paige impressed: Rivals.com’s No. 37-ranked junior, Marcus Paige, said he had fun on his unofficial visit.

“Of course, Late Night was awesome. It’s crazy how loud it gets. It’s really cool to see how much the fans care about the basketball team at Kansas,” said Paige, who is considering KU, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan and others.

Top sophs enjoy atmosphere: Andrew and Aaron Harrison, 6-5 sophomores from Travis High in Fort Bend, Texas, loved Late Night. Andrew is ranked No. 1 and Aaron 10 overall.

“If you were there last night, that was pretty much unbelievable,” the twins’ dad, Aaron Harrison Sr., told Rivals.com. “I was asked if they were interested in Kansas last night, and I responded by saying, ‘Why wouldn’t you want to come to a school like Kansas?’ Kansas is very much an option for the both of them.”

They will next make unofficials to Maryland and Georgetown and have heard from Arizona, Baylor, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA and others.