FHSU Athletics
Exhibition
Fort Hays State at Kansas
Wednesday, November 1 - 7 p.m.
Lawrence, Kan. - Allen Fieldhouse
Radio: KJLS (103.3) CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
TV: ESPN+ HOW TO WATCH ($)
Fort Hays State Men's Basketball will prepare for its upcoming 2023-24 season with an exhibition contest at the University of Kansas on Wednesday. Tipoff at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence is set for 7 p.m.
Fort Hays State is coming off a 21-9 season in 2022-23. The Tigers went 15-7 in MIAA to tie for third in the conference standings. They have finished third in the conference each of the last two seasons. The Tigers enter their 23rd season under head coach Mark Johnson, who owns a 428-212 record at FHSU. The Tigers have 11 seasons of 20 or more wins under Johnson's guidance.
Kansas has been tabbed as the No. 1 ranked team in the AP Preseason Top 25 Poll for NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are coming off a 28-8 season in 2022-23 and a Big 12 regular season title. It was their 21st Big 12 regular season title and NCAA-leading 64th regular season conference title all-time. Kansas advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West Region before getting knocked out by No. 8 seed Arkansas by a score of 72-71. KU returns three of its regular starters from last year in Dajuan Harris, Kevin McCullar, and KJ Adams.
This will be the 10th exhibition meeting between the schools and 13th overall. Kansas is 9-0 against FHSU in exhibition play and 3-0 in regular season play. The last exhibition meeting between the teams occurred on October 24, 2019 with the Jayhawks winning by a score of 86-56. Down 11 at the break, FHSU closed back within two points of KU with a 9-0 run out of halftime, but KU eventually pulled away for the win. The closest exhibition game between the teams occurred back in 2013 when KU won by 17, 92-75. The 75 points were also most scored by FHSU in an exhibition or regular season contest against KU.
Fort Hays State returns three All-MIAA selections from a year ago in Kaleb Hammeke, Elijah Nnanabu and Bjarni Jonsson. Hammeke is now a three-time All-MIAA selection after earning first-team honors last year, along with a selection to the NABC All-District Second Team for the Central Region. He was a second-team selection in 2021-22 and was honorable mention along with Freshman of the Year honors in 2020-21. Nnanabu and Jonsson were each honorable mention selections last year, while Jonsson was named to the MIAA All-Defensive Team for a second-straight year.
The Tigers return eight players from their team last year, which includes six that saw plenty of time on the court and two that redshirted. FHSU has six newcomers, which includes four transfers and two freshmen.