KU basketball to play home opener without fans: ‘The energy will be here regardless’
There will be no cheerleaders, no pep band and hardly any fans in the stands for Kansas’ home basketball opener against Washburn on Thursday night in Allen Fieldhouse.
Only relatives of the players and coaches and athletic department staff members will attend the 7 p.m. contest, as well as Saturday’s 3 p.m. game against North Dakota State. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
It’s in accordance with KU Chancellor Douglas Girod’s recent decision to have KU home sporting events be fan-free through Dec. 5 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It remains to be seen how the absence of the usual throng of 16,300 will affect the Jayhawks, who take a 2-1 record into the game against the 3-0 Ichabods of NCAA Division II.
“I think it’ll be different,” KU senior forward Mitch Lightfoot said of playing in a near-empty arena. “You go from playing three to four years in Allen (with) 16,300 every single time to something else. Coach (Bill) Self is a great motivator; I think we’ll bring that same energy to each and every game. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some people in there when it’s all said and done.”
KU has said it will welcome 1,500 fans per home game once it is safe to do so.
“I don’t know if that is something you can ever get used to,” junior forward David McCormack said of playing without fans. He scored seven points on 1-of-9 shooting and totaled five rebounds in KU’s 65-62 victory over Kentucky — a game played before no fans — on Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“Even if you walk on court and warm up, you want to hear some type of chant even its a a boo, some type of interaction you are fine with,” McCormack added. “We have to get the job done regardless of whether there are fans or not, although we will be missing them. It’s still Allen Fieldhouse. The energy will be here regardless. We’ll still play with an immense amount of effort whether there’s 16,300, empty or 1,500. We always play for the fans.”
KU assistant coach Norm Roberts said he’s confident the Jayhawks will be motivated playing in the fieldhouse with or without spectators this season.
“Every guy playing grew up playing in a gym or outside at a park. There weren’t any fans there. You were just playing 3-on-3, 4-on-4, 5-on-5. No matter what, you love the game,” Roberts said in a recent “Grill With Bill” conversation with head coach Self on kuathletics.com.
“You will compete. I know they’ve got the music going and all that stuff, but to me guys play hard because they love the game.”
Indeed, the center videoboard will show replays and play other videos throughout the evening.
“I had not thought about it (recently),” Self said Tuesday of playing with no fans in Allen. “It will be good to be back home for the most part (after three-game, week long road trip) so families of our players can watch them play.
“This is a unique deal,” he added of playing games in a pandemic. “You have many families who have invested so much to watch the kids play. At least families can watch them play. It’ll be a totally different setup all year long where there is absolutely no normalcy. I’ve got a sportswriter texting me this almost daily: ‘Stay positive and test negative.’ That’s basically what every team’s goal is now.”
KU has had 306 consecutive sellout games since 2001-02 in Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks have compiled a 264-14 record in Allen through Self’s first 17 seasons at KU.
“We have the best home crowd in the country, the best homecourt advantage in the country,” Self said, “but the biggest reason we won so many games at home, believe it or not, is not the fans. It is not the building. It is because we actually had better players than those teams we’re playing against the majority of the time. The games other teams have really good players or games we weren’t quite as good, the fans become the difference. They give us confidence and momentum. It’s the best home court in America but we’ve got good players still. If our guys are better than their guys we should still be OK I hope.”
When 1,500 fans are allowed … “that’s all we need as long as they are all cheering for the Jayhawks,” Roberts noted with a smile. “We know we’ve got a lot of other people watching us,” he added of KU fans at home watching either on TV or livestream.
