Tyshawn Taylor’s performance on July 17th at Penn Valley Community College hasn’t become quite as legendary as Mario Chalmers’ miracle shot in the national championship game last April.

But people are asking a similar question about the freshman guard’s 47 point, 17 rebound and six assist performance in the Kansas City Pro-Amateur League game – Were you there that night?

“No, actually I wasn’t,” freshman forward Quintrell Thomas said. “But he made sure I heard about it.”

None of the Jayhawks were in Kansas City that night to witness Taylor’s exhibition, where he led his team, the Hawks, to a lopsided victory against the Cavilers.

Not even sophomores Tyrel Reed and Cole Aldrich or junior Mario Little, who all were his teammates in the league. They missed the game that night. That’s how Taylor said his outrageous performance began.

“It was just me,” Taylor said. “And I was like, ‘man, I’m going to just play.’”

Well, not just him. Taylor’s teammates that night included a few junior college players and former Kansas guard Nick Bradford. Taylor made it clear early in the game, however, that he would be in control.

Taylor’s eyes widen and he smiles when the game is brought up more than four months later. Thomas said Taylor, his roommate, has stopped reminding him about the 47 points he scored. That doesn’t mean Taylor has forgotten about it.

“The team we played against, they weren’t that good,” Taylor said. “But I mean, I still scored 47 points.”

Taylor said 47 points set the league record for this year. That’s impressive considering the caliber of players who participated throughout the summer – including NBA players such as Chauncey Billups of the Detroit Pistons and Ronnie Brewer of the Utah Jazz.

Taylor’s finest hour impressed Thomas, who also played in the league, for a different reason. Thomas said the nature of the league made it even more difficult to accomplish the feat.

“I was surprised anyone could score 47 because at the Pro-Am, it was a team of five,” Thomas said. “It’s hard to score 47 points without rest.”

The performance was definitely the biggest highlight since Taylor moved to Lawrence in June, but it wasn’t the only one. Taylor thrilled the crowd at an open-scrimmage as part of Bill Self’s basketball camp this summer when he scored 19 points, had four rebounds and three steals.

He started all three exhibition games during the team’s Labor Day weekend trip to Ottawa, Canada and averaged 14 points – the second-most of all the Jayhawks.

The exhibition games prove the 6-foot-3 guard from Jersey City, N.J., has the talent to make an impact for the Jayhawks immediately this season. Kansas coach Bill Self has also praised Taylor’s skills. Self said a player like Taylor was a rarity at Kansas.

“He’s one of those few guys who you can recruit to Kansas that is better than his hype,” Self said.

Rivals.com ranked Taylor as only the 77th best player in the nation in the recruiting class of 2008 – second-lowest out of the five incoming freshmen. He might not have come in with much hype, but the outlandish 47-point game in July is helping to change that.

“I was just going. It was fun,” Taylor said. “That’s the highest I’ve ever scored in a game before.”