Late Night in the Phog will take place on Oct. 17, Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self and women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider announced on X on Monday afternoon.
This will be the 41st annual edition of Late Night. The event spotlights a prominent musical guest (not yet announced for this year) and includes a mixture of skits and exhibition action featuring the men’s and women’s basketball teams, as the unofficial tipoff of their fall seasons.
It also means the first exposure to an Allen Fieldhouse crowd for a variety of KU newcomers. This year, the vast majority of men’s basketball players will be experiencing it for the first time, as KU’s roster includes returnees Flory Bidunga, Elmarko Jackson, Jamari McDowell and Bryson Tiller (an early enrollee) with quite a few more newcomers on scholarship: Corbin Allen, Samis Calderon, Melvin Council Jr., Jayden Dawson, Darryn Peterson, Kohl Rosario, Paul Mbiya and Tre White.
The women’s basketball team returns key starters from last year, including guards Elle Evans and S’Mya Nichols, but has its own highly anticipated freshman class of Tatyonna Brown, Jaliya Davis, Libby Fandel and Keeley Parks, widely regarded as the best recruiting class in program history. KU also brought in one transfer, forward Lilly Meister.
Last year’s Late Night centered on musical guest Lil Jon, a late addition after Nelly had initially been announced as the headliner. It also served as the first event in the then-newly renovated Allen Fieldhouse.
After Late Night, the men’s basketball team will play an exhibition game at Louisville a week later, on Oct. 24. The women’s team’s first exhibition action is against Division II Fort Hays State on Oct. 29 at Allen Fieldhouse.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
