Senior guard Sherron Collins drives around sophomore guard Tyshawn Taylor during the Late Night scrimmage. The men's basketball team played a 20-minute scrimmage in front of a packed Allen Fieldhouse Friday night for the 25th annual "Late Night in the Phog."
Monday, October 19, 2009
Freshman guard Xavier Henry stepped out of the phog and into a cheering Allen Fieldhouse. Henry was overwhelmed.
“It was a full packed house and I have to get used to it being at home,” he said. “I was nervous the whole time. I was nervous all this week, I was nervous this whole year.”
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Late Night in the Phog 2009
The 25th annual Late Night in the Phog at Allen Fieldhouse was held Oct. 16.
It may have been Henry’s first time, but most fans gathered to see the 25th installment of Late Night knew what to expect: skits, dancing, video montages and scrimmages.
In one skit, the men’s team took a stab at ESPN’s College GameDay for being in Manhattan and not Lawrence this year.
Coach Bill Self entertained the crowd with his rendition of Digger Phelps, complete with Phelps’ characteristic matching tie and highlighter pen and references to Notre Dame.
Self also dropped what was perhaps the joke of the night when he referred to his players as having “a little fight in them,” a statement that reminded many of the recent fights between the basketball and football teams. Afterward, Self said it was merely a play on words and was not meant to make light of the situation.
As in past Late Nights, the men’s basketball team donned crazy getups and busted silly moves. C.J. Henry sported bright yellow throwback shorts, Tyrel Reed showed off his “worm” and Mario Little and Sherron Collins performed a snazzy Michael Jackson.
Earlier in the evening, the women’s basketball team did some dancing of its own in a glorified version of “American Idol.”
After breathtaking displays of the history of Kansas basketball, the team played in a 20-minute scrimmage to show off its No. 1 ranking by every major preseason poll.
The game was fun for the fans, but not from a coaching standpoint — Self made it clear that the team was not ready to hang any championship banners just yet. Self was not impressed by what he saw — a lot of rusty players and a game of H-O-R-S-E.
“Pitiful play in some regards,” Self said. “You can’t expect it to be anything other than that.”
Yet there were some highlights for the fans, at least. Travis Releford, playing for the red team, and Markieff Morris, playing for the blue, each scored a scrimmage-high 15 points. Releford started the game guns-a-blazing.
“Right off the tip was a good lob from Tyshawn [Taylor], and that dunk just kept me going after that,” he said.
At the end of the night, senior guard Sherron Collins thanked the fans for their support and said that the team wanted to start the season fresh and leave the past behind. With his teammates huddled on the court, Collins ended the night by giving the crowd a reason to think the Jayhawks had their focus in the right place: “‘Family’ on three!”
— Edited by Brenna M. T. Daldorph
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