Kansas guard Elmarko Jackson (13) celebrates a three from Kansas guard Johnny Furphy (10) during a timeout in the first half on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

One mid-major men’s basketball program has already experienced a first-time visit to Allen Fieldhouse this season.

“I think we were just intimidated by the atmosphere, and boy is it an atmosphere,” North Carolina Central coach LeVelle Moton said after his team lost to Kansas 99-56 on Monday. “We just got shell-shocked. I could look on their faces and tell, like, scouting reports and X’s and O’s at that point just didn’t matter. They were caught up in the moment.”

Moton took it one step further later in his postgame press conference, when he added that walking out onto the James Naismith Court, “it looks like a movie. It feels like a movie.”

On Friday, Manhattan College will be hoping that movie plays out something like “Hoosiers” when it makes its own first-ever trip to Lawrence. The Jaspers, who compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and despite their college’s name are located in the Bronx, are in their first season under John Gallagher.

Gallagher previously led Hartford to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022 but resigned the day before the Hawks were scheduled to begin their last season in Division I ahead of dropping down to Division III. He is now leading a school that endured its own coaching turmoil last season, after firing Steve Masiello two weeks prior to the start of the year and losing some key players as a result.

Nonetheless, the campaign started strong for Manhattan as it topped Bryant 61-59 on the road Monday night.

“You know that was a good win they had the other night at Bryant,” KU coach Bill Self said Wednesday. “… Any time you win on the road it’s a good win against a Division I school, especially at their level when they’re rebuilding and everything.”

Weber State transfer forward Daniel Rouzan, one of 14 new players compared to just three returners, scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, including the game-winning layup with a minute to go, to lift the Jaspers to victory. Freshman Seydou Traore had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“For our newcomers, for this new group, I can’t be more proud,” Gallagher said after the game in a video posted on social media.

Moton had trouble bringing a brand-new team on the road to face Kansas and it could be a similar challenge for Gallagher, as he tries to lead the Jaspers back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015, though Self did note they might throw out some zone and 1-3-1 looks that KU hasn’t seen much.

Most notably, Manhattan, much like NCCU, does not have a player taller than 6-foot-9 on the roster and will be vulnerable in the paint to 7-foot-2 KU center Hunter Dickinson. (As Moton put it, you can be in the right place and “genetics just kick in.”)

For all of his success scoring on Monday (21 points, eight rebounds in less than 24 minutes on the court), Dickinson got most of his work done from outside, leading Self to remark, “I don’t think he got to the post near as much as he could have.”

Dickinson said he thrived off the energy of the crowd in Allen Fieldhouse Monday. He can expect that intensity to ramp up even further as the Jayhawks get deeper into their schedule, although he will have to savor it while it lasts, because after Friday KU does not play another home game until it hosts Eastern Illinois on Nov. 28. In the meantime, the Jayhawks will face some of the nation’s top teams, including Kentucky at the Champions Classic and two storied programs at the Maui Invitational.

For now, transfer guard Nick Timberlake will hope to continue to enjoy the perks of playing at the Associated Press’ No. 1 team in the nation, as KU strives to pick up another win to start the year.

“I was telling Coach Dooley on the bench that it’s much better being on this side than it is being on the losing side,” Timberlake said. “I’ve been on the losing side of a lot of these games before, just when we play high-major teams at Towson. But winning’s a lot of fun.”

No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks (1-0) vs. Manhattan Jaspers (1-0)

• Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, 7 p.m.

• Broadcast: ESPN+

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9)

Keep an eye out

• McDowell’s debut: Freshman guard Jamari McDowell “got his bell rung in practice” pretty good prior to the season opener and missed the game. That deprived him of what could have been some pretty significant action with the result decided early. Self said on Wednesday that McDowell “should be available to us” Friday for his first collegiate action.

• Jackson’s continued progress: Self insists that who starts in a given game “absolutely doesn’t register” with him, but he did choose freshman Elmarko Jackson over Timberlake as the fifth starter Monday, and said Wednesday he will probably start the same way against Manhattan. Jackson certainly looked like a freshman Monday as he accumulated three immediate fouls, but he continued to flash his tremendous athleticism and actually got some time running the point. (Self has recently said that when Dajuan Harris Jr. is not on the court, Kevin McCullar Jr. will have to lead the offense because Jackson needs to play more freely.) Friday’s game could provide another opportunity for him to work through his growing pains on the court.

• He’ll shoot when he needs to: Harris accumulated 10 assists against NCCU without taking a shot at any point in the game. “He doesn’t care,” Self said. “He’ll shoot it when he needs to. But that doesn’t interest him.” Harris echoed his coach’s sentiment, that he would shoot when it became necessary, in an Instagram post with a winking emoji. The Jayhawks as a team totaled 32 assists, their most in a game since 1999. Will the point guard be called upon to shoot for the first time against Manhattan?

Off-kilter observation

Manhattan freshman guard Jaden Winston, who started and played 31 minutes in his first collegiate game, went to DeMatha Catholic in Maryland, the same high school as Hunter Dickinson.