Several KU newcomers, including Australia’s Johnny Furphy, to make Late Night debuts

Each year, Late Night in the Phog gives Kansas basketball fans a chance to watch the squad’s newcomers play in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time.

Friday’s 39th edition of Late Night will mark the home debuts of much-hyped transfer portal addition Hunter Dickinson, formerly of Michigan, as well as fellow transfers Nick Timberlake (Towson) and Parker Braun (Santa Clara), plus scholarship freshmen Elmarko Jackson, Jamari McDowell and Johnny Furphy.

Committing to KU on Aug. 2, Furphy, a versatile 6-foot-9, 202-pound guard/small forward from Melbourne, Australia, is the only first-year Jayhawk who did not make the trip to Puerto Rico for KU’s three exhibition games in early August.

“I think he’s doing really well,” KU coach Bill Self said Monday when asked to assess Furphy’s play in preseason practice sessions, which at KU started on Sept. 25. “Even though he is young, he’s still 18 (turning 19 in December). We’ve had Svi (Mykhailiuk, former KU guard from Ukraine now in the NBA) here when he was 16. We’ve had younger players here. He’s just young in the way we do things over here and those things.”

Self continued.

“He’s very, very bright and has great feel. Physical strength will be the one thing that would probably hold him back a little bit if anything, just because he has a body like Svi,” Self added. “Svi early in his career could get knocked around a little bit, but Johnny is going to be a really good player.”

Furphy — he worked out with a pro team in Australia for a couple weeks this summer before reporting to KU for the start of first-semester classes on Aug. 21 — chose KU over Duke, Gonzaga, North Carolina and others. He emerged as a top recruit after stellar performances at the NBA Academy Games in July in Atlanta.

“He’s been great coming in and learning so fast. His basketball IQ is on a whole ‘nother level,” KU senior Kevin McCullar Jr. said Monday. “He’s going to be a great player for us this year. We’re definitely going to need him.”

Playing for Victoria at the 2023 Australia-Under 20 Championship, Furphy averaged 13.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals in six games. He hit 38.5% of his 3s. Furphy averaged 14.3 points and 5.6 rebounds in 12 games for Centre of Excellence in Australia his senior year of high school.

“Johnny is a really good character,” KU junior forward K.J Adams said Monday. “He is a good ball mover, a good shooter. I think he’s a good all-around prospect. He’s a good player, a good teammate, an all-around nice guy.”

Fellow freshman guard Jackson comes to KU after playing in the McDonald’s All-America game a year ago. The 6-3, 195-pound native of Marlton, New Jersey, averaged 10.6 points on 12-of-23 shooting over three games for KU in Puerto Rico. He averaged 20.5 minutes per game while starting one of the three games.

Jackson was ranked No. 25 in the recruiting class of 2023 by Rivals.com.

“He’s been great. He is probably one of the most athletic people I’ve played with. His first step is crazy,” McCullar said of Jackson, who averaged 19.0 points and 6.0 assists a game last season at South Kent School in Connecticut. “He’s going to be a quick guard who can create for himself and others all year and definitely pick up the ball and guard.”

A third scholarship freshman is McDowell, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound guard out of Manvel (Texas) High. He scored 11 points in three games for KU in Puerto Rico while averaging 12.1 minutes a game.

“Jamari hasn’t gotten a lot of hype, but I think Jamari is going to catch a lot of eyes this year,” Adams said of Rivals.com’s No. 95-ranked player who averaged 22.4 points and 5.4 assists his senior year. “He’s going to do pretty well just like all the newcomers and freshmen.”

KU has three first-year players who are walk-ons: Justin Cross, a 6-foot-8 junior guard out of John A. Logan College in Illinois; Chris Carter, a 6-foot-4 redshirt-freshman guard transfer from Cal-State Northridge and former KU student manager Patrick Cassidy, 6-1 senior guard from Columbus, Kansas.

Other returnees from a year ago include scholarship players Dajuan Harris and Zach Clemence and walk-ons Charlie McCarthy, Wilder Evers, Michael Jankovich and Dillon Wilhite.

The 39th-annual Late Night, set for a 6:30 p.m. start Friday at Allen Fieldhouse, will feature intrasquad scrimmages of both the men’s and women’s teams and a mini-concert by rapper/singer/songwriter Flo Rida to conclude the event.

Local sensation S’Mya Nichols leads women’s newcomers

This will also mark the first home appearance of the No. 22-rated prospect in the women’s high school recruiting class of 2023: S’Mya Nichols, a 6-foot guard out of Shawnee Mission West. She is the highest-ranked player to sign with the KU women’s program in the eight-year Brandon Schneider era.

Nichols, a five-star recruit, won a gold medal as a member of the 2022 USA Under 18 National Team. She chose KU over Tennessee, Arizona and many others in recruiting. Nichols scored over 1,000 points for her prep career, averaging 19.0 points per game as a senior at SM West.

“It’s hard to describe the impact that S’Mya is going to have on our program in every facet,” Schneider said. “We identified her as one of the premier up-and-coming players in the nation at an early age and we’ve been recruiting her since she was in seventh grade, offering when she was in eighth grade.

“S’Mya is a player who can play four positions offensively and we’ve seen her guard all five positions at a high level. Paired with her elite skill set, her versatility, size, strength and athleticism really stand out when you watch her play.”

Other KU freshmen to make their Allen Fieldhouse debuts Friday: Laia Conesa, 5-foot-11 guard, Barcelona, Spain; Paris Gaines, 6-foot-3 center Orlando, Florida and McKenzie Smith, 6-foot guard, Amarillo, Texas. Transfers joining the program: former Alabama guard Ryan Cobbins, a 6-foot graduate of KC Piper High School and 5-foot-10 former North Alabama guard/forward Skyler Gill.

Last year’s KU women’s basketball team won the NIT championship game over Columbia.