University of Kansas Athletics

Opening Night
Ten-time defending Big 12 Conference champion Kansas begins the 2014-15 season by hosting UC Santa Barbara, Friday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. (Central). The game will be televised on Jayhawk IMG TV/ESPN3.com. Ranked No. 5 by the Associated Press and No. 5 in the USA Today Coaches’ preseason polls, Kansas is looking to win its 42nd-consecutive home opener in Allen Fieldhouse, dating back to the 1973-74 season. Since 2001-02, the Jayhawks have won their last 12 season openers. UC Santa Barbara (0-0) is coming off a 21-9 season in which it placed second in the Big West Conference with a 12-4 record. The Gauchos are not ranked heading into 2014-15.

About Kansas
Expectations are always high for Kansas and that is status quo for the 2014-15 season as KU coach Bill Self enters his 12th season at the helm with an 82.5 (325-69) winning percentage, the highest winning percentage in school history.

Kansas went 25-10 in 2013-14 and won its unprecedented 10th-straight Big 12 and NCAA-leading 57th regular-season conference championship. Self brings back nine letterwinners, including two starters, from the team that advanced to the round of 32 in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

Losing the No. 1 and No. 3 overall selections in the 2014 NBA Draft, Self looks to reload for 2014-15. Kansas returning starters are Perry Ellis, a junior forward, and Wayne Selden, Jr., a sophomore guard. Ellis is KU’s leading returning scorer at 13.5 points per game in 2013-14, and rebounder at 6.7 rpg. Selden averaged 9.7 points per game his rookie year at KU and both he and Ellis were named to the 2014 All-Big 12 squad with Ellis a third-team selection and Selden honorable mention. The duo also earned weekly conference honors during 2013-14.

Other key returnees include junior F Jamari Traylor and sophomore guards Frank Mason III and Brannen Greene. Traylor averaged 4.8 points and 3.0 rebounds in 2013-14. Included was his first career double-double with personal highs in points (17) and rebounds (14) in KU’s opening round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament against Eastern Kentucky. Mason averaged 5.5 points and 2.1 assists last season and started three games at the point. Greene appeared in 28 games and scored 2.4 points per outing.

Sophomore F Landen Lucas (1.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg in 22 games last season) and redshirt junior F Hunter Mickelson, a transfer who sat out 2013-14 but practiced with the team, will add depth to the inside. Mickelson started 25 games in two seasons at Arkansas, from 2012-13, where he averaged 5.3 points, 3.6 rebounds with 111 blocked shots. His 72 blocks in 2011-12 set the Arkansas freshman record.

Walk-on guards Christian Garrett, Evan Manning and Tyler Self also return. Garrett is the lone senior on the KU squad, while Manning, son of KU legend Danny Manning, is a junior and Self, son of the KU head coach, a redshirt sophomore. Self injured his foot in preseason practice prior to the 2013-14 season and did not play.

Excluding Mickelson, who has been in the KU system for a year, Self welcomes five newcomers to the roster, including McDonald’s All-Americans forward Cliff Alexander and guard Kelly Oubre, Jr. A power forward who was ranked No. 3 by ESPN100, Alexander was the 2014 Naismith High School National Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball USA. Oubre was ranked No. 11 by ESPN100 and both he and Alexander competed for Team USA at the Nike Hoop Summit and the Jordan Brand Classic in the spring 2014. Additionally, Oubre was invited to work at the Kevin Durant Skills Academy and the adidas Nation’s camps in the summer of 2014.

Highly-rated guards Devonte’ Graham and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk round out the KU freshmen for 2014-15. Graham led Brewster Academy to the 2014 national prep championship and New England prep title. At 17, Mykhailiuk is the youngest player in the Big 12 Conference. His international experience is extensive as he has represented his home country, Ukraine, for the past few years at events such as the 2013 U16 European Championships, the 2014 U18 European Championships and the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. He was an opponent of Alexander and Oubre at the 2014 Nike Hoop Summit. Walk-on freshman G Josh Pollard, nephew of former KU center Scot Pollard, rounds out the Jayhawk newcomers.

About UC Santa Barbara
Located in Santa Barbara, California, with an enrollment of 20,847, UC Santa Barbara returns four starters and 11 letterwinners from a team which went 21-9 and placed second in the Big West Conference in 2013-14. The Gauchos are coached by Bob Williams who is 269-212 in his 17th season at UCSB and 458-312 in his 26th season overall. UCSB is picked second in the 2014-15 Big West Preseason Media Poll. UC Irvine is the league favorite according to the media.

Senior F Alan Williams is the top returner for UCSB as he led the nation in rebounding last season with an 11.5 per game average. The 2014 Big West Player of the Year and a two-time all-conference first team selection, Williams averaged 21.3 points per game, which also led his league. Junior G Michael Bryson was an honorable mention All-Big West selection last year who averaged 11.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Senior G Zalmico Harmon was second in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio last year at 4.6-to-1. He averaged 7.8 points per game. Junior F Mitch Brewe (4.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg) rounds out the returning starters. Sophomore G Eric Childress (5.3 ppg) and junior F Sam Beeler (2.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg) are other top returners from last season for UCSB.

UCSB defeated Point Loma 70-54 in its lone exhibition game with Williams leading the way with 20 points and 19 rebounds. Freshman G Gabe Vincent scored 13 points in the victory.

The Series
Kansas won the only meeting with UC Santa Barbara, 72-52, in the opening round of the Wolf Pack Holiday Classic, Dec. 20, 2003, in Reno, Nevada, in Bill Self’s first season at Kansas. KU is 5-2 all-time versus current membership of the Big West Conference with a 3-1 record versus Long Beach State and 2-1 mark against Hawaii.

In the Polls
Kansas men’s basketball enters the 2014-15 season at No. 5 in both the Associated Press the USA Today Coaches’ polls. This marks the third-straight year, and the fifth time in the last six seasons, that the Jayhawks have entered the season No. 7 or higher by AP and the ninth time in the Bill Self era that the Jayhawks start the season slotted seventh or higher. Self, the three-time national and five-time conference coach of the year, is entering his 12th season at KU where he has a 325-69 (82.5 percent) record. Additionally, this is the 23rd time in the 26-year history of the coaches’ poll the Jayhawks have been ranked.

Last season, KU entered the season No. 5 by AP and ended 10th and No. 6 in the coaches’ poll and finished at No. 14. The Jayhawks were ranked in the top-10 on 14 occasions by the AP and 13 weeks by the coaches during the 2013-14 season.

In 2014-15, Kansas could potentially play nine games against teams ranked in the preseason coaches’ poll: No. 1 Kentucky, No. 7 Florida, No. 10 Texas (twice), No. 14 Iowa State (twice), No. 18 Michigan State and No. 19 Oklahoma (t