Jayhawks, Razorbacks to play exhibition basketball game for charity Friday night
The big winners in Friday night’s exhibition basketball game between AP preseason No. 1-ranked Kansas and No. 16 Arkansas will be the thousands of children supported by the Fore the Kids Foundation in the Kansas City area, as well as Arkansas Children’s Hospitals in the state of Arkansas.
While raising money for those organizations is the main purpose of this contest, sponsored by CareSource, the game also allows the Razorbacks and Jayhawks an opportunity to escape the drudgery of practice via a glorified scrimmage against players from another school.
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. Friday, with a live telecast on the SEC Network. It will be broadcast on 810 AM radio in Kansas City and 92.3 FM in Wichita.
“They have it listed as an exhibition game. I’m pretty sure Arkansas and us don’t really have it as an exhibition game,” KU senior forward KJ Adams said ahead of the looming showdown in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
“It’s going to feel like a real game. I feel like they are going to pack it out and it’ll be a real war when we go out there.”
In fact, Bud Walton Arena, capacity 19,200, is sold out for the charity exhibition.
“It should be another great test like the Illinois exhibition game last year,” Jayhawks senior point guard Dajuan Harris said of KU’s 82-75 loss to the Fighting Illini in an exhibition for charity on Oct. 29, 2023 at Assembly Hall in Champaign, Illinois. “I want to beat them to make a point, because last year we lost the game.
“That showed in our whole season, what happened,” Harris added of KU finishing with a 23-11 record, including a 10-8 mark in the Big 12.
“I’m excited to play at the Bud Walton Arena. I’ve never played there before. They sold it out right away. It’s pretty lit in there all the games I’ve seen (on TV). I’m excited to play them.”
Calipari, the new Razorbacks coach
Arkansas fans are energized following the hiring of former Kentucky coach/Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer John Calipari, who will be making his unofficial Razorbacks coaching debut Friday at the SEC school.
“It’s big for us,” Harris said. “We are going into a hostile environment, first game, first exhibition. Everybody is going to learn a lot from it. We can get better from it no matter what. Hopefully we go down there and win. I’m just trying to win every game I can here.”
Both teams figure to be shorthanded.
KU center Hunter Dickinson is questionable after re-spraining the bottom of his foot in last Friday’s Late Night in the Phog scrimmage. Guard Rylan Griffen is listed as doubtful beause of a hip flexor injury sustained Monday at practice.
Guard Shakeel Moore is not fully recovered from surgery in early September to repair a hairline fracture in his right ankle. Elmarko Jackson is out for the season after tearing his patellar tendon during a scrimmage in early June.
KU coach Bill Self said Dickinson, Griffen and Moore all should be able to practice on Sunday.
As for Arkansas, a group of Razorbacks are questionable for the game.
They are: former Kentucky forward Adou Thiero, who averaged 7.2 points and 5.0 rebounds a game for the Wildcats last season; former Florida Atlantic guard Johnell Davis (18.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg in 2023-24); former Tennessee forward Jonas Aidoo (11.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg) as well as former Hawaii Pacific guard Melo Sanchez (14.6 ppg).
“We’ve got like six guys,” Calipari said late last week, referring to healthy rotation players. “So we’re playing against (managers) in practice. Hopefully, we’re going to have a somewhat full team. Hopefully, a couple of those guys will be available to play, but neither Bill (Self, KU coach) or I would push a player because of an exhibition game.”
Calipari added: “I know you all are saying, ‘We’re playing Kansas! They’re No. 1 in the country!’ I just hope they’ve got some players out, too. But whatever happens in this exhibition game with Kansas, we all just need to keep things in perspective.”
Not everybody on Arkansas’ roster is injured
Healthy Razorbacks players who have been able to practice include junior forward Trevon Brazile, sophomore guard D.J. Wagner, freshman guards Boogie Fland and Ayden Kelley, freshman forwards Karter Knox and Billy Richmond, sophomore forward Zvonimir Ivisic and senior guard Kareem Watkins.
“Everybody thinks we’re winning every game,” Calipari told wholehogsports.com. “We may get beat by 30 by Kansas. I’ll move on. Next day. It’s a process. I understand.
“I love playing a game just to get the atmosphere going and get people to see the team,” Calipari continued. “I wish we had a full roster — we won’t. But it’s a great opportunity to find out, ‘Right now at this point, where are we?’ And then, ‘Where do we need to go? What do we need to improve on?’ So we can get after it.”
The exhibition will not necessarily resemble a normal college game.
“I think we’re going to play quarters (instead of halves). Nobody can foul out and we can reset fouls I think because I think Arkansas may be beat up a little bit, too,” Self said. “I anticipate us playing most of the situations out of the quarters, maybe have it be more of a practice type situation where coaches can actually walk around and show things on the floor, do some things.
“So I’m not anticipating a real game, even though we will keep score, but I’m not anticipating it being something that we probably both need to look at different combinations and stuff like that. Since we have a lot of guys out, it’ll probably be good for us to see how different guys react in actual meaningful minutes.”
KU could face loud crowd at Bud Walton Arena
Self said he likes playing exhibition games on the road to show his players what the environment will be like during regular-season road games in the Big 12, when the Jayhawks face rowdy atmospheres night in and out.
“That’s why we did it. There will be 19,000 people, sold out …. just seeing how they (KU players) react in those situations I think will be very good,” Self said. “I think you’ll be able to tell a lot about guys that feel like that.
“Maybe David Coit coming from Northern Illinois and playing a big game in that respective league (Mid-American) on the road is a little bit different than what we’ll see on Friday night.”
Self is not sure who he’ll start on Friday night.
“I don’t know, but I would say Juan (Harris) and KJ and Zeke (Mayo) for sure. So we’ll start three guys,” he said with a smile.
KU is 8-6 all-time versus Arkansas
Kansas leads the overall series with Arkansas, 8-6. Arkansas prevailed 72-71 in the schools’ last hoops meeting: the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament in Des Moines.
The 14-game series dates to 1946 and Friday’s will be the first exhibition meeting between the two schools. The last time Kansas came to Fayetteville was Dec. 6, 1986, when the Hogs defeated the No. 6-ranked Jayhawks, 103-86.
This will be the third charity exhibition game Kansas will have participated over the last seven seasons. In October 2017, Kansas defeated Missouri, 93-87, at T-Mobile Center. The game raised money for Hurricane Katrina relief. Last season in October 2023, Kansas played at Illinois to raise dollars for rapid response and recovery for those affected by the wildfires in Maui.
Last year, Arkansas defeated Purdue, 81-77, in overtime in an exhibition game for charity in Fayetteville. Prior to the 2022-23 season, Arkansas lost to Texas, 90-60, in an October exhibition in Austin, Texas. Arkansas also played a charity exhibition prior to the 2019-20 season when it hosted Little Rock to commemorate the naming of Nolan Richardson Court in Bud Walton Arena. The Razorbacks won 79-64.
KU will play Washburn in an exhibition at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse. KU’s regular-season opener is against Howard on Nov. 4 at Allen Fieldhouse.
