LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas guards Tyshawn Taylor and Elijah Johnson will not participate in the KU’s two exhibition games for violating team rules during the offseason, Jayhawks’ head coach Bill Self announced Sunday.
“Tyshawn and Elijah have both been terrific since school began in August,” Self said. “They’ve not only performed well, they have been very responsible and disciplined the first few months of the school year. But during the offseason they violated a rule that I told them, because of some past experiences, their punishment was going to be severe and I was going to hold them out of the two exhibition games. They have been aware of this for several months and also are disappointed, but have had very positive attitudes about it.”
“I will not comment about this further,” Self added. “Losing two players and Thomas (Robinson) being questionable for Tuesday’s game probably changes the look of our team as much as anyone in the country. This gives a chance for our young guys to play under the lights and see how they react.”
Kansas begins its exhibition season when it plays host to Pittsburg State on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. The Jayhawks’ second exhibition contest will be versus Fort Hays State on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Both players will return for Kansas’ regular-season opener against Towson on Friday, Nov. 11. The Towson contest is KU’s opening game of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
Taylor, a senior from Hoboken, N.J., is Kansas’ leading returning scorer from the 2010-11 season where he averaged 9.4 points per game. A three-year starter, Taylor ranked among the Big 12 leaders with 4.6 assists last season and is 67 points from becoming the 54th player in school history to record 1,000 career points.
Johnson, a junior from Las Vegas, Nev., is KU’s leading returner in three-point field goals made (22) and three-point percentage (40.0 percent) from last season. Johnson averaged 3.4 points per game with six starts for KU in 2010-11.
