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.
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.
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.
To be fair, Flory took it like a champ, and his team came out victorious in the end.
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 ugly -8 plus-minus.
He was surprisingly omitted from the starting five pregame to make way for Paul Mbiya. The impending debut for Trey Kaufman-Renn only complicates this situation even more.
Oct 20, 2026; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas player Keanu Dawes is interviewed during the Big 12 Media Days event at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Given the abundance of options KU now has in the frontcourt, it's hard to see where Dawes would slot into the opening unit if he performs like this. He could be an excellent sixth man to provide a spark on the boards and athletically, but Christian Reeves and Mbiya have both thoroughly outplayed him early on.
In what feels like a repeat of last year, and quite honestly every year since winning a national title in 2022, the perimeter shooting outlook on this team is bleak. Nobody besides Tre White (4-for-8) or Melvin Council Jr. (3-for-6) connected on a shot from beyond the arc, with the rest of the squad going a combined 0-for-10 from three.
Leroy Blyden Jr. was brought in from Toledo to lead the 3-point attack. He attempted one in 12 minutes played. Freshman Luke Barnett, who was touted as an incredible deep sniper
in the offseason, saw one minute of action. Rotations have to be shuffled if KU's offense is going stagnant like this.
Council is a career sub-30% 3-point shooter, and White may not even be eligible when postseason play rolls around
. To think that no Jayhawk who was on the roster a month ago hit a three is wildly concerning.
This was a weird performance from freshman Tyran Stokes, to say the least. Not only was he thoroughly outplayed by fellow first-year standout Obinna Ekezie Jr. on the other side, but it never felt like he got comfortable tonight.
Stokes shot a dreadful 3-for-13 from the floor, was blocked at the rim multiple times, and didn't see the ball go through the hoop until midway through the second half since his first made field goal was a goaltend. He got to the line an astounding 14 times but missed five shots from the charity stripe.
The offense was at his best when he was playing as a point forward at the top of the key and creating shots for his teammates. He was responsible for the offense's struggles late and displayed a lot of the emotional immaturity that many scouts view as a concern with him.
Kansas Jayhawks guard Tyran Stokes (4) drives the ball against Louisville Cardinals guard Karter Knox (1) during the exhibition game inside Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas on Oct. 21, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
When Darryn Peterson first stepped onto the court as a freshman, his natural scoring ability was evident immediately. That hasn't exactly been the case with Stokes. He has yet to find his niche in the half-court, and there's nothing wrong with that - all freshmen have an adjustment period to go through.
There will be growing pains with Stokes, but I'm confident that he will figure things out after gaining more at the collegiate level.
The 2026-27 Kansas Jayhawks have the potential to be a national championship contender , but today's performance proved they are still a long way from actually becoming one.
When teams like Duke are beating top-10 opponents by nearly 40 points in exhibitions, it's hard to chalk KU's struggles up entirely to roster adjustments. There is a clear gap between Kansas and the handful of teams sitting at the very top of the college basketball landscape.
The Jayhawks are in unusual circumstances due to the trio of players who joined the roster less than a month ago. Ironically, two of them (White and Council) were really the only players who gave KU much of a shot today, which is telling when you consider what this team may have looked like had they not been brought back into the picture.
Unless the Jayhawks go out and stomp Duke by 30 points in the Blue Blood Classic, which obviously isn't happening, there is naturally going to be a lot of apprehension surrounding this squad until further notice.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/kansas as Five Instant Observations From Kansas' Ugly Scrimmage Loss to Louisville .
