The matchups are set.
As rumored earlier this summer, Kansas will meet UCLA and St. John’s will tangle with Kentucky in first-round Coaches Vs. Cancer IKON Classic games on Thursday, Nov. 9 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
The KU-UCLA game will start at 5:30 p.m., Central time, with the second game to follow approximately 8 p.m.
The consolation game will start at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10, with the title match to follow at 8. KU’s first-round game will be shown on ESPN2. The consolation game is on ESPN2 with the title game on ESPN.
Tickets to the event are now on sale via TicketMaster and the Madison Square Garden box office.
The Jayhawks will be appearing in the tournament for the first time. KU coach Roy Williams is a member of the Coaches Vs. Cancer Council and raises money for the organization.
“We are very excited to go to New York for our program’s signature event,” Williams said. “In just a few short years, this event has put itself on the map and is now recognized as one of the premier college basketball tournaments in the country. We are thrilled to be involved and hope to raise even more money than last year’s event.”
The 1999 tourney, which featured tourney champ Stanford, plus Duke, Connecticut and Iowa, raised more than $500,000 for Coaches vs. Cancer.
Coaches vs. Cancer is a collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Kansas’ game against UCLA will be its first against the Bruins since a Dec. 7, 1996, when the Jayhawks won, 96-83, in Los Angeles. UCLA leads the all-time series, 8-2.
Kansas last opened the season away from home in 1996 when the Jayhawks beat Santa Clara, 76-64, in San Jose, Calif.
Josh Childress, a 6-6 guard from Lakewood, Calif., on Wednesday denied an Internet rumor that he’s orally committed to Kansas.
Childress told both Mike Sullivan of Insider’s Report and Marc Maggard of Kentuckywildcats.net he still was considering Kansas, Stanford, Arizona, North Carolina and UCLA.
Childress told Maggard KU, Stanford and North Carolina were “right there with North Carolina trying hard to get in there.”
It’s believed KU’s chances of landing Childress and Aaron Miles (6-1 Portland) improved earlier this week when Daniel Ewing, 6-3 from Sugar Land, Texas, committed to Duke. The Blue Devils reportedly will not recruit any more guards. Miles lists KU, UCLA, Duke and Arizona as his favorites.
David Lee, a 6-9 forward from St. Louis, tells Sullivan he has a list of Duke, Florida, North Carolina, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky.
“With coach Williams staying at Kansas I will continue to look at that school seriously,” Lee told Sullivan. “To me, coach Williams is the strongest part of Kansas. So it was important to me to know where he would be going. I thought he was a lock to go to North Carolina. But he showed his loyalty. That is nice. I also have gotten to know coach Doherty (UNC) lately and I like him a lot, too.”
Chad Bell, 6-11 from Los Angeles, told recruiting analyst Maggard on www.onairsports.com if he had one wish it would be that Kansas start recruiting him heavily. USC, New Mexico and Mississippi State have shown great interest. He also has UCLA, Kentucky and North Carolina on his mind.