Five Instant Observations From Kansas’ Ugly Scrimmage Loss to Louisville

Kansas’ highly anticipated exhibition matchup against Louisville ended with a stunned Allen Fieldhouse crowd after the Jayhawks fell 89-83 to the No. 11-ranked Cardinals. The loss came in the second half of a home-and-home scrimmage series between the two schools.

While KU led early and carried an advantage into halftime, the Jayhawks began to fall apart shortly after the break. They made a late push to cut the deficit to as little as two points in the closing minutes, but defensive struggles and missed opportunities down the stretch allowed UL to hold on.

Tre White was the star of the contest, finishing with a game-high 25 points on 8-for-15 shooting. For Louisville, Oregon transfer Jackson Shelstad led the way with 23 points and four rebounds, and freshman Obinna Ekezie Jr. added 16 points and eight rebounds.

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The exhibition won’t count toward either team’s official record and it shouldn’t be a sky-is-falling moment for KU, but it’s certainly a wake-up call for anyone who thought the Jayhawks would come in and dominate the Big 12 right away. Here are five instant takeaways from the defeat.

5. Flory Receives a Not-So-Warm Welcome

As expected, Flory Bidunga was met with plenty of boos and a few expletive chants in his return to Allen Fieldhouse. Self wasn’t particularly happy with the student section about it and asked them to tone it down pregame.

He was even seen giving Melvin Council Jr. a shove in the second half after a hard foul to his teammate Karter Knox. It feels like there’s some bad blood between these two former teammates, as evidenced by Council’s comments last week.

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To be fair, Flory took it like a champ, and his team came out victorious in the end.

4. Keanu Dawes Is the Odd Man Out

After an entire offseason in which Kansas fans believed Keanu Dawes was a sure-fire starter, he may have put himself out of that role until further notice. He was highly ineffective across his 22 minutes played, scoring five points on 2-for-6 shooting with an…

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Publish date : 2026-10-22 01:30:00

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