Men's Hoops Continues Exhibition Play Tuesday vs. Emporia State

Kansas Continues Exhibition Play
No. 5 Kansas continues 2014-15 exhibition play when it hosts Emporia State Nov. 11. The game will be televised on Jayhawk IMG TV and can also be seen via the internet by fans outside of Kansas by visiting KUAthletics.com/ESPN3.com. For more information on accessing Kansas video content, visit KUAthletics.com/TV.
 
Kansas is 64-9 in exhibition contests, including 32-2 under head coach Bill Self after its 85-53 win versus Washburn Nov. 3. The Kansas contest will be the first exhibition game for Emporia State this season.
 
Led by freshman F Cliff Alexander and sophomore G Frank Mason III, Kansas opened exhibition play with an 85-53 victory versus Washburn before a sellout crowd in Allen Fieldhouse Nov. 3. Alexander was one rebound shy of a double-double as he scored a team-high 14 points with nine boards. Mason was the only other Jayhawk in double figures with 13 points and he had a game-high seven assists. KU used a stifling defense holding Washburn to 13 first-half points. All 11 Jayhawks who played in the first half reached the scoring column.
 
About Kansas
Expectations are always high for Kansas men’s basketball and that is status quo for the 2014-15 season as KU coach Bill Self enters his 12th season at the helm with an 82.5 (325-69) winning percentage, the highest winning percentage in school history.
 
Kansas went 25-10 in 2013-14 and won its unprecedented 10th-straight Big 12 and NCAA-leading 57th regular-season conference championship. Self brings back nine letterwinners, including two starters, from the team that advanced to the round of 32 in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
 
Losing the No. 1 and No. 3 overall selections in the 2014 NBA Draft, Self looks to reload for 2014-15. Kansas has been ranked as high as third in the preseason rankings, returning starters Perry Ellis, a junior forward, and Wayne Selden, Jr., a sophomore guard. Ellis is KU’s leading returning scorer at 13.5 points per game in 2013-14, and rebounder at 6.7 boards per contest. Selden averaged 9.7 points per game his rookie season at KU and both he and Ellis were named to the 2014 All-Big 12 squad with Ellis a third-team selection and Selden honorable mention. The duo also earned weekly conference honors during the 2013-14 season.
 
Other key returnees include junior F Jamari Traylor and sophomore guards Frank Mason III and Brannen Greene. Traylor averaged 4.8 points and 3.0 rebounds in 2013-14. Included was his first career double-double with personal highs in points (17) and rebounds (14) in KU’s opening round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament against Eastern Kentucky. Mason averaged 5.5 points and 2.1 assists last season and started three games at the point. Greene appeared in 28 games and scored 2.4 points per outing.
 
Sophomore F Landen Lucas (1.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg in 22 games last season) and redshirt junior F Hunter Mickelson, a transfer who sat out 2013-14 but practiced with the team, will add depth to the inside. Mickelson started 25 games in two seasons at Arkansas, from 2012-13, where he averaged 5.3 points, 3.6 rebounds with 111 blocked shots. His 72 blocks in 2011-12 set the Arkansas freshman record.
 
Walk-on guards Christian Garrett, Evan Manning and Tyler Self also return. Garrett is the lone senior on the KU squad, while Manning, son of KU legend Danny Manning, is a junior and Self, son of the KU head coach, a redshirt sophomore. Self injured his foot in preseason practice prior to the 2013-14 season and did not play.
 
Excluding Mickelson, who has been in the KU system for a year, Self welcomes five newcomers to the roster, including McDonald’s All-Americans F Cliff Alexander and G Kelly Oubre, Jr. A power forward who was ranked No. 3 by ESPN100, Alexander was the 2014 Naismith High School National Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball USA. Oubre was ranked No. 11 by ESPN100 and both he and Alexander competed for Team USA at the Nike Hoop Summit and the Jordan Brand Classic in the spring 2014. Additionally, Oubre was invited to work at the Kevin Durant Skills Academy and the adidas Nation’s camps in the summer of 2014.
 
Highly-rated guards Devonte’ Graham and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk round out the KU freshmen for 2014-15. Graham led Brewster Academy to the 2014 national prep championship and New England prep title. At 17, Mykhailiuk is the youngest player in the Big 12 Conference. His international experience is extensive as he has represented his home country, Ukraine, for the past few years at events such as the 2013 U16 European Championships, the 2014 U18 European Championships and the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. He was an opponent of Alexander and Oubre at the 2014 Nike Hoop Summit. Walk-on freshman G Josh Pollard, nephew of former KU center Scot Pollard, rounds out the Jayhawk newcomers.
 
About Emporia State
Located in Emporia, Kansas, 81 miles south and west of Lawrence, with an enrollment of 6,114, Emporia State opens its season at Kansas. The Hornets are coached by former Colorado standout Shaun Vandiver who is 40-45 entering his fourth season at Emporia State. The Hornets are picked eighth out of 14 teams in the Mid America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) 2014-15 preseason coaches’ poll. Last season, ESU went 18-13 and tied for sixth in the MIAA with a 10-9 record. The Hornets return nine letterwinners, including two starters, from last season’s team. Junior guards Terrence Moore and Micah Swank are the two returning starters. Moore averaged 17.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game last season, while Swank scored 6.3 points per contest. Other key returnees include sophomore G Jevon Taylor (5.7 ppg), sophomore F Jay Temaat (4.0 ppg) and sophomore F Josh Pedersen (3.4 ppg).
 
The Series
Kansas leads the overall series with Emporia State 19-3, including a 6-0 record in exhibition games. This series dates back to 1904 and Kansas has won the last nine meetings starting in 1992. ESU’s three wins came in the series opener, 25-13 on March 16, 1904, in Emporia; 36-25 on Feb. 24, 1916, in Lawrence; and 67-44 on Dec. 13, 1947, in Emporia. KU last faced Emporia State on Oct. 30, 2012, when the Jayhawks defeated the Hornets 88-54 in an exhibition contest in Allen Fieldhouse. Current Jayhawk Perry Ellis scored 15 points on 5-for-5 shooting with seven rebounds in the contest, while Landen Lucas had six points and nine boards. Jamari Traylor also scored six points and pulled down for rebounds in the KU win.
 
Exhibition Notables
–Kansas has scored 100-plus points in 24 exhibition games, including eight under Bill Self. The last KU 100-point game was 101-52 versus Fort Hays State on Nov. 8, 2011.
–Kansas has won 41-straight exhibition contests in Allen Fieldhouse. The last home loss in exhibition play was 93-82 to Australia on Nov. 29, 1993.
 
Up Next
Kansas will open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 14 against UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. (Central). That contest will be on the Jayhawk IMG Television, ESPN Full Court and ESPN3 outside the state of Kansas. KU will then face top-ranked Kentucky in the Champions Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The game will be the second of a doubleheader with an approximate start time of 8 p.m. (Central).

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