Kansas guard S'Mya Nichols (12) is introduced to the crowd during Late Night in the Phog on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas women’s basketball took the court in front of fans for the first time this season on Friday evening at the 41st annual Late Night in the Phog.

Among the introductions and theatrics of the evening, the team participated in a ten-minute scrimmage. The night started with a team dance on the court and finished with a final score of 24-22 in favor of team Crimson, led by senior guard Elle Evans’ 11 points.

“I hope, obviously, it’s something that is really brief,” Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider said after the scrimmage. “There’s a little bit of chemistry that shows through, and I think the thing that our fanbase is going to really discover about this group is how much they like each other.”

Team Crimson consisted of Evans, along with fifth-year senior Nadira Eltayeb, junior guard Laia Conesa, and two freshmen, guard Keeley Parks and forward Tatyonna Brown.

Team Blue was led by junior guards S’Mya Nichols and Brittany Harshaw. Senior guard Sania Copeland and senior forward Lilly Meister, sophomore forward Regan Williams, and two freshmen, forward Jaliya Davis and guard Libby Fandel, rounded out Team Blue’s roster.

The big story of the evening was Jaliya Davis’ performance. Davis, a five-star recruit out of Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park, finished the scrimmage with 10 points and three rebounds on 5-for-5 shooting from the field.

Davis got the scoring started for the blue team in the first seconds when Nichols dished Davis a pass underneath the basket, and she laid it in for an easy bucket. From there, her night only got better.

“She’s been doing great,” Schneider said. “I think she was really strong around the basket, and I think (she) has worked tirelessly to add other things to her game, which I think show themselves once we get into competition.”

Davis wasn’t the only Jayhawk who finished the night shooting 100% from the field, as Elle Evans also finished the scrimmage 4-for-4 from the field, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Schneider said the team has high hopes for Evans this season after she finished last year’s campaign shooting 42% from downtown.

“Especially in certain stretches, I thought she was as good of a 3-point shooter as there is in our conference,” Schneider said. “And we expect her to be one of the premier 3-point shooters in the country this year.”

Kansas now turns its head towards exhibition season, where it will host Division II Fort Hays State at Allen Fieldhouse on Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m.