KU men’s basketball won’t quite be at full strength for Arkansas exhibition

photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas head coach Bill Self addresses the media during the NCAA college Big 12 men's basketball media day, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City, Mo. — Plenty of questions still remain to be addressed about how the Kansas men’s basketball team will line up with its slew of newcomers, and those questions will not necessarily get resolved on Friday.

The Jayhawks will not have their full complement of athletes and could be down as many as three of their 12 healthy scholarship players for Friday’s charity exhibition game at Arkansas, head coach Bill Self said on Wednesday.

Fifth-year senior center Hunter Dickinson has not practiced since Late Night in the Phog last Friday, as he has been dealing with a sprain to the bottom of his foot, though Self reiterated that “it’s not, knock on wood, it’s not anything that hopefully is going to keep him out more than a couple more days.” Shakeel Moore, a fifth-year guard who transferred from Mississippi State, will be out due to the offseason injury that continues to keep him out of practice. And junior wing Rylan Griffen, who arrived from Alabama in the offseason, is “doubtful” following a hip flexor injury on Monday.

“So that could be a different team playing,” Self said. “But the reality of it is, I really think they can all practice by Sunday, including Shakeel. It’s not all bad — it’s probably going to be the healthiest we’ve been about five days from now.”

Dickinson, who participated in KU’s Big 12 media day contingent at the T-Mobile Center with Self, KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris Jr., said he wasn’t sure yet if he was going to play on Friday. If Dickinson sits out, KU could get an extended look at freshman Flory Bidunga, and perhaps Zach Clemence with a redshirt season under his belt.

Self stopped short of naming a starting lineup for Friday but did say that Adams, Harris and South Dakota State transfer Zeke Mayo will start.

Besides lineup considerations, the exhibition will also look a bit different on the court because it will likely not strictly follow the format of a typical college basketball game — a departure from KU’s exhibition last year at Illinois. Self said he’s “not anticipating” it being like a “real game,” even though they will keep score.

“I think we’re going to play quarters so that way nobody can foul out and we can reset fouls, I think,” Self said. “Because I think Arkansas may be beat up too, a little bit.”

He also said that at the start of each quarter, the teams could do situational work, “but maybe have it be more of a practice-type situation where coaches can actually walk around and show things on the floor and do some things.”

One way in which the exhibition will provide an experience applicable to the upcoming season: It will put the Jayhawks in front of an away crowd.

“That was why we did it,” Self said. “Nineteen thousand people, sold out, even though it may not be exactly a game situation, but seeing how they react in those situations, I think will be very good.”

He used the example of Northern Illinois transfer David Coit, noting that playing a road game in the MAC “is a little bit different than what we’ll see on Friday night.”

“Everybody’s going to learn a lot from it,” Harris said. “We can get better from it. Hopefully we go down there and win. I want to win because we lost last year at Illinois.”

The Jayhawks’ other exhibition game is against Washburn at Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday.