KU men’s basketball guard Arterio Morris suspended from program after rape allegation
Kansas men’s basketball guard Arterio Morris has been suspended from the KU program following a rape accusation that was reported to the University of Kansas Police Department.
Morris is not named in the incident report, but a KU Athletics official told The Star he “has been suspended from the program and we have no further comment.” A second source confirmed an allegation had been made against Morris.
According to logs from the KU police department, a rape was reported at the 1700 block of Naismith Drive in late-August. The police incident report confirmed the location as McCarthy Hall, which houses the KU men’s basketball players among around 40 male residents and is located just south of Allen Fieldhouse.
KU men’s basketball players Johnny Furphy and Elmarko Jackson are listed on the incident report as witnesses. KU basketball’s Nick Timberlake is also listed, under “other.” A witness can be someone who “saw or heard the crime take place or may have important information about the crime or the defendant,” according to a U.S. Department of Justice definition.
A source with knowledge of the situation said the men’s basketball players listed as witnesses or “other” on the incident report were interviewed after the fact and “not involved in the incident at all. They are not under investigation or anything like that remotely.”
Two additional witnesses who are not men’s basketball players are also listed. A witness listing does not necessarily mean that person was present when an alleged crime was committed.
The victim noted on the incident report is an 18-year-old Missouri woman, listed at 5-foot-3, 107 pounds. The alleged incident occurred between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 26 and was reported at around 9:50 p.m. on Aug. 27, according to the incident report.
Morris’ agent, Chris Gaston, declined comment on Friday. On Thursday, Gaston had expressed concerns about how an allegation against Morris might be portrayed through media coverage.
Morris’ mentor, Juan Rivera, also declined comment Friday. Attempts to reach Morris through Gaston and Rivera were unsuccessful.
A KU spokesperson told The Star that Kansas coach Bill Self and KU athletic director Travis Goff had no comment. Self reiterated that via a text message to The Star on Friday.
On Tuesday, Sept. 12, more than two weeks after the alleged incident occurred, a listing for the alleged rape was uploaded to an online crime-report database. The Star made multiple requests for the incident report from KU police on Tuesday before filing a Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) request, which was fulfilled by KU on Friday.
Three days is the maximum amount of time allowed to respond to such a request.
The case is still open, and Morris hasn’t been arrested, nor has a warrant been issued for his arrest. The Douglas County District Attorney’s office told The Star on Thursday: “At this time, this case has not been presented to our office for charging consideration.”
On Friday, the KU police department logs indicated the case had been forwarded to the Douglas County district prosecutor.
On Friday night, after The Star’s story was published, an X (formerly Twitter) account believed to belong to Morris reportedly shared a screen shot of a post from another user that read: “could never understand how u can be falsely accused . have ur reputation, career family name and everything else tarnished and now it’s all over with no consequences ? nah this ain right man”
The original post was in response to charges against a former Providence college basketball player being dismissed due to “insufficient evidence.”
Morris’ X account has since been deleted.
This is not the first potential legal incident for Morris, who transferred to Kansas after one season at the University of Texas. Morris averaged 4.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per game at his former school.
Morris received a Class A misdemeanor assault charge from an alleged June 2022 confrontation in Frisco, Texas. Morris was set to appear for a jury trial on Oct. 2, but the trial was canceled Thursday when he entered a nolo contendere (no contest) plea to a Class C charge and was ordered to pay a fine of $362.
According to Frisco police, as outlined in an AP story shared on ESPN.com, “Morris was arrested after officers were called to the ex-girlfriend’s house. She told police she and Morris had broken up the day before and that a relative who didn’t know about the breakup let him inside.
“The woman told police Morris grabbed her arm and pulled her off a bed, then grabbed the front of her sports bra, which she said caused (an) injury on her neck.
“Police reported seeing a 3-inch abrasion on the woman’s neck and arrested Morris on a charge of assault causing injury to a family member, which includes dating relationships in Texas.”
On June 24 of this year, the alleged victim in that case filed an affidavit of non-prosecution and requested that charges be dismissed. The Denton County District Attorney’s Office had previously told The Star it would continue to pursue charges.
Morris was not suspended last season — he practiced and played in games for Texas for the entire 2022-23 season.
In May, shortly after announcing Morris’ addition to the KU men’s basketball team, Self issued a statement about Morris’ court case in Texas.
“We are aware of the charge that Arterio is facing in the State of Texas,” the statement read. “In addition to working with our athletic department and campus administrators, we have also spoken at length with Arterio, his family, his former institution’s University Student Affairs office and his former institution’s Department of Athletics Compliance and Administration.
“Based on these discussions, we are comfortable welcoming Arterio to the University of Kansas and he is well aware of the high standards and expectations that come with being a member of the Kansas Men’s Basketball program. We fully expect him to meet those daily.”
Self had raved about Morris’ play since he arrived on campus in Lawrence.
“Arterio was highly recruited coming out of high school and we watched him a ton his senior year at Kimball (High),” Self said in a release back in May. “When he entered the portal, we went right after him. Arterio is one of the most talented guards in the country who hasn’t scratched the surface of his potential.”
The Star’s Gary Bedore contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 15, 2023 at 7:44 PM with the headline "KU men’s basketball guard Arterio Morris suspended from program after rape allegation."
