Takeaways from the Kansas Jayhawks’ Late Night in The Phog season-kickoff event
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Attendance low at Late Night in Phog; many corner seats stayed empty.
- Darryn Peterson showed elite instincts and finishing; led scrimmage with 12.
- Shooting remains key concern: limited 3-point track record and efficiency.
College basketball season is almost here.
The University of Kansas held its 40th annual Late Night in The Phog event Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse. The festive occasion marks the start of hoops season for the Jayhawks men’s and women’s teams.
For the first time in years, there was no musical artist. Instead, the event featured dueling DJs, and both the women’s and men’s squads held traditional scrimmages.
The women’s Crimson team won 24-22, while the men’s Crimson side prevailed 27-23. Elle Evans led the women’s team with 11 points, while heralded freshman newcomer Darryn Peterson paced the men’s squad, also with 11.
Here are some takeaways from Late Night in The Phog 2025:
Lackluster crowd for Late Night
Perhaps the lack of a musical artist played a part, or maybe fans expected the game to be available via stream or TV, but there were plenty of open seats in Allen Fieldhouse on Friday.
The event was free, with assigned seating outside the student section. The stands filled out more as the night went along, but empty areas were noticeable in the corners.
It was a little puzzling that more fans didn’t want to get their first look at Peterson — the projected 2026 No. 1-overall NBA Draft pick. The star-studded rosters for both teams had plenty of new faces.
It’s hard to pinpoint an exact reason why the turnout wasn’t great. But the lack of hype surrounding the upcoming season was a bit surprising for a blueblood program.
Darryn Peterson has the ‘wow’ factor
Peterson didn’t light it up much during the scrimmage, but it felt like he was one second away from making an exciting play any time he had the ball in his hands.
Not to mention, it’s pretty clear why coach Bill Self and Peterson’s teammates new and old say he’s ready for the NBA.
He’s got a lightning-quick first step and his ability to finish through contact is impressive. It’s unclear how good KU basketball will be this season, but Peterson is as advertised.
“He’s a talented kid,” Self said.“You can just tell by the way he moves. He moves at a controlled pace, change of speed and directions that’s pretty fluid.
Peterson finished with a team-leading 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting and also grabbed two rebounds. Nobody else on either team scored more than five points or took more than five shots.
KU’s shooting ... doesn’t inspire confidence
Look, it’s a smallest-sample size scenario — a scrimmage — but a lot of eyes are on the Jayhawks’ shooting.
This is not some grand takeaway because the season hasn’t even started, but if you remember, Kansas struggled to shoot it well at last year’s Late Night ... and then looked horrible from deep all season.
KU shot 2-for-15 from 3-point range Friday. And just one player on this season’s roster shot better than 33% last season — Jayden Dawson (36.3%). The next-best shooter on Self’s 2025-26 roster was Tre White, who shot 32.9% from 3-point range.
On paper, Kohl Rosario and Peterson should be good 3-point shooters, but other than that, the Jayhawks’ shooting will be a question mark. Yes, even though this roster has yet to play a college game together.
Questions about shooting abilities aside, this team should be much better than last season’s KU squad. And Self was quick to downplay any potential shooting-woes carryover from 2024-25.
“I don’t know I liked the shot selection, for the most part,” Self said. “They were just out there jacking around, to be honest.”
This story was originally published October 17, 2025 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Takeaways from the Kansas Jayhawks’ Late Night in The Phog season-kickoff event."
