No. 3 Jayhawks set for Halloween Night exhibition against Pitt State

Beginning in August 2017, fans will be allowed to bring only one clear plastic bag no larger than 12 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches or a one-gallon, clear, resealable plastic storage bag per person inside Kansas athletics events.

Fans will also be allowed a small clutch purse not to exceed 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches.

More on new bag policy

Junior guard Lagerald Vick 

LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 3 Kansas will hit the Allen Fieldhouse floor for the first time in 2017-18 for an exhibition contest against Pittsburg State on Tuesday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on Jayhawk Television Network and can also be seen via the internet by fans outside the state of Kansas by visiting KUAthletics.com/ESPN3. For more information on accessing Kansas video content, visit KUAthletics.com/TV. Dave Armstrong (play-by-play) and Chris Piper (analyst) will call the action.
 
TIP OFF

• Kansas will play its sixth exhibition game since August when it hosts Pittsburg State on Halloween, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse.
• Kansas has never played on Halloween (Oct. 31). The Jayhawks are 3-0 all-time in the month of October, all three of those games in exhibition play.
• The Jayhawks posted a 4-0 record while touring Italy in August and defeated Missouri, 93-87, on Oct. 22 in a Showdown for Relief game at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The KU-MU contest generated $2.011 million for hurricane relief efforts.
• Kansas 84-9 all-time in exhibition games, including 52-2 in games under head coach Bill Self. The Jayhawks have won 25-straight exhibition contests and 46-straight inside Allen Fieldhouse.
• The Jayhawks are 7-0 all-time against Pittsburg State in exhibition games. KU and PSU have met four times in regular-season play, with the last meeting coming in 2001.
• Kansas returns two starters and four reserves from the squad that claimed the Jayhawks’ 13th-consecutive Big 12 regular-season title and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
• KU senior Devonte’ Graham is KU’s top returning scorer (13.4 ppg) and was selected as the Big 12’s Preseason Player of the Year. He was also named to the preseason All-Big 12 Team and was joined on the list by redshirt-sophomore guard Malik Newman.
• The USA TODAY preseason coaches poll picked the Jayhawks at No. 3 on its top-25 list released on Oct. 19, marking the fourth-straight year KU has been among the top-five teams in the USA TODAY preseason poll. The preseason Associated Press poll will be released Nov. 1.

 
ABOUT KANSAS
Preseason top-5 in most publications, Kansas returns two starters and six letterwinners from last season’s 31-5 team, which won the Big 12 race with a 16-2 conference record. Senior guards Devonte’ Graham and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk return as regular starters, while junior guard Lagerald Vick was also in the rotation with six starts. Sophomore center Udoka Azubuike had six starts in his 11 games played in before an injury ended his 2016-17 season.
 
Expect to see returning sophomore forward Mitch Lightfoot’s minutes increase. Sophomore guard Malik Newman, who sat out last year after transferring from Mississippi State, will play a significant role as will guards Marcus Garrett and Sam Cunliffe and forward Billy Preston. Garrett and Preston are freshmen, while Cunliffe is a sophomore who will sit out the fall semester after transferring from Arizona State last December. Last season, Garrett was the Texas Gatorade Player of the Year, while Preston became KU’s 42nd McDonald’s All-American.
 
Graham is the 2017-18 Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, as selected by the league coaches, while Newman is the league’s preseason newcomer of the year. Graham was a preseason all-conference first-team selection and Newman and Mykhailiuk were on the preseason league honorable mention team. Additionally, Graham is one of 20 listed on the preseason Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Watch List, an award won by KU’s Frank Mason III in 2016-17. Newman is one of 20 listed on the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Watch List entering 2017-18.
 
ABOUT PITTSBURG STATE
Located in Pittsburg, Kansas, with an enrollment of 7,400, Pittsburg State head coach Kim Anderson enters his first season with the Gorillas. Before his three-year stint at Missouri, Anderson guided Central Missouri State to the NCAA Division II national championship in 2014.
 
The Gorillas were 5-22 in 2016-17 and tied for 13th in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Association (MIAA) with a 3-16 record. They return nine players from the 2016-17 squad and have nine newcomers on the roster. Pitt State was selected to finish eighth in the 14-team 2017-18 MIAA preseason poll. Northwest Missouri was picked first in the preseason MIAA poll. The Gorilla’s top returning scorer is junior guard Dakota Jones, who averaged 9.4 ppg a year ago.
 
THE SERIES
Kansas is 11-0 all-time against Pittsburg State in a series that started in 1944. The Jayhawks are 7-0 against versus the Gorillas in exhibition play. KU and PSU last met in the regular season in 2001, a 105-62 Kansas victory in Lawrence. All seven meetings since have been in exhibition play. The Jayhawks and Gorillas last met on Nov. 4, 2015 in Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas came away with an 89-66 win. Kansas forward Perry Ellis tallied a double-double, scoring a game-high 22 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. The Jayhawks scored 23 fastbreak points and held Pittsburg State to 28 percent shooting from the field.
 
EXHIBITION HISTORY
Kansas is 84-9 in exhibition history and has won 19-straight exhibition contests starting Oct. 30, 2012. This past summer, KU posted a 4-0 exhibition record while touring Italy in August and defeated Missouri, 93-87, in the Showdown for Relief at Sprint Center on Oct. 22.
 
Kansas is 57-4 in exhibition contests played in Allen Fieldhouse. KU has won the last 46 exhibition games in Allen Fieldhouse beginning in 1994. Kansas has scored 100-plus points in 28 exhibition games, including 12 under head coach Bill Self. The Jayhawks are 52-2 in exhibition play in Self’s 14-plus seasons at KU.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Showdown for Relief, the Oct. 22 charity exhibition basketball game between the universities of Kansas and Missouri at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri, generated $2.011 million for victims of recent natural disasters in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Kansas won the exhibition, 93-87.
 
The donations are a combination of ticket sales ($1.15 million), the Pay-per-View stream ($768,000) and text-to-give contributions ($68,000). Donations from other entities totaled approximately $25,000, bringing the total donation to some $2.011 million. The funds will be directed to “One America Appeal for Hurricane Relief,” a joint appeal launched by all five living former U.S. Presidents. The following organizations will benefit from the game: the Houston Harvey Relief Fund, the Rebuild Texas Fund, the Florida Disaster Fund, Unidos Por Puerto Rico and the Fund for the U.S. Virgin Islands.
 
On the floor the old conference rivals did not upset the capacity crowd of 18,951 in the first KU-MU battle since 2012. Kansas built an eight-point lead, 27-19, midway through the first half behind five 3-pointers from senior Devonte’ Graham. Graham ended the contest with 25 points and 10 rebounds, all defensive. He was one of five Jayhawks in double figures for the game along with sophomore guard Malik Newman with 17 points, sophomore center Udoka Azubuike with 16, junior guard Lagerald Vick with 13 and freshman forward Billy Preston with 12.
 
KANSAS NO. 3 IN PRESEASON USA TODAY COACHES’ POLL
Kansas men’s basketball enters the 2017-18 season No. 3 in the USA TODAY Coaches’ Poll released Thursday. This is the fourth-straight year the Jayhawks have opened the season in the top five.
 
Kansas is ranked in the preseason for the 26th time in time in the 29-year history of the poll. The No 3 ranking marks the eighth time KU has been preseason No. 3 or higher in the coaches’ poll. Additionally, it is the 12th time in the Bill Self era the Jayhawks have been preseason seventh or higher, including each of the last six seasons.
 
All four teams in the Nov. 14 Champions Classic are ranked in the top four of the coaches’ poll with No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Kansas and No. 4 Kentucky. Last year, KU pulled a rarity and defeated the three other Champions Classic teams during the season.
 
Kansas will play 12 games against teams ranked or receiving votes in the coaches’ preseason poll this season.
 
In 2016-17 Kansas opened the year No. 2 in the preseason coaches’ poll and ended No. 4.
 
PRESEASON ALL-BIG 12
Kansas guards Devonte’ Graham, Malik Newman and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk each garnered recognition on the 2017-18 Preseason All-Big 12 Team as voted on by the league’s men’s basketball coaches, the conference office announced Oct. 12.
 
Graham was named the 2017-18 Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, while Newman was dubbed the league’s preseason newcomer of the year. Graham was also a preseason all-conference first-team selection, while Newman and Mykhailiuk securing preseason honorable mention honors. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes in the selection process.
 
PRESEASON BIG 12 POLL
For the 16th time in the 22-year history of the Big 12, Kansas men’s basketball has been selected as the preseason favorite to win the conference regular-season championship as the league released its coaches’ preseason poll Oct. 18.
 
Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams in the poll and KU received a unanimous nine first-place votes and a total of 81 points. West Virginia was second in the poll receiving 71 points, followed by TCU (64). Three teams – Texas (49), Baylor (47) and Oklahoma (43) were clumped in spots 4-6, followed by Texas Tech (36), Kansas State (27), Iowa State (22) and Oklahoma State (10).
 
Kansas has won, or tied for, 17 of the 21 Big 12 regular-season titles, including the last 13 consecutive, a streak which ranks tied for first all-time in NCAA Division I history with UCLA (1967-79).
 
Historically, the preseason favorite has gone on to finish first in the regular season 14 times, which does not include 1996-97 as a coaches’ poll was not conducted. Kansas has been the preseason favorite in 13 of its 17 Big 12 regular-season titles, missing 1996-97 (no poll), 2005-06 (third) and 2010-11 (second).
 
PRESEASON NATIONAL HONORS
Kansas guards Devonte’ Graham and Malik Newman have both been named to preseason watch lists by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Graham is one of 20 candidates for the 2018 Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award, while Newman is one of 20 on the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award. A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch lists for each award.
 
Named after Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic and Holy Cross guard Bob Cousy, the annual honor, now in its 15th year, recognizes the top point guard in NCAA Division I men’s basketball. Graham is vying to become the second-straight Jayhawk to win the award as Frank Mason III was KU’s first-ever Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award winner last season.
 
Named after Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player Jerry West, the annual honor, in its fourth year, recognizes the top shooting guard in Division I men’s college basketball.
 
BILL SELF INDUCTED INTO NAISMITH BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME
Kansas head coach Bill Self, along with 10 others, was officially enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Sept. 8 at Springfield Symphony Hall in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts.
 
Joining Self in the evening’s enshrinement festivities were the other 10 Class of 2017 inductees: Zack Clayton (player, posthumous), Nick Galis (player), Robert Hughes (coach), Mannie Jackson (contributor), Tom Jernstedt (contributor), Jerry Krause (contributor, posthumous), Tracy McGrady (player), Rebecca Lobo (contributor), George McGinnis (player) and Muffet McGraw (coach). 
 
Self becomes the 19th person associated with Kansas basketball to be inducted, the last being coaching legend John McClendon, who was inducted in 2016 for the second time. As only the eighth coach in KU history, Self is the fifth KU mentor to be inducted into Hall joining James Naismith, Dr. F.C. “Phog” Allen, Larry Brown and Roy Williams. Kansas has the highest percentage of coaches in the Hall of Fame, 63 percent, than any other school. KU’s five matches North Carolina’s five for the most inducted in college coaching with St. John’s third with four.
 
THIS DAY IN KU BASETBALL HISTORY
Kansas will be playing its first game on Oct. 31 and its third game all-time in the month of October. KU is 3-0 in the month of October: 88-54 vs. Emporia State on Oct. 30, 2012, 97-57 vs. Pittsburg State on Oct. 29, 2013 and 93-87 vs. Missouri on Oct. 22, 2017.
 
UP NEXT
Kansas will conclude exhibition play on Tuesday, Nov. 7, when it hosts Fort Hays State at 7 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse. That contest will be televised on Jayhawk TV. The Jayhawks will open regular-season play when they host Tennessee State on Friday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
 FOLLOW 

@KUHoops

/KansasBasketball

@KUHoops 

KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.