— KANSAS ATHLETICS RELEASE —
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KUAthletics.com) – Three-time Grammy Award-winning rap superstar Nelly will headline the 40th Annual Late Night in the Phog presented by Hy-Vee and adidas on Friday, Oct. 18, in historic Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas Athletics announced today.
Fusing musical genres, and engaging in multiple entertainment mediums including music, television, and film, Nelly has continuously raised the bar for the entertainment industry since stepping on the scene in 2000 with his distinctive vocals and larger-than-life personality.
An entrepreneur, philanthropist, and actor, Nelly strives to be a trailblazer and to be the first to make his mark in every category such as being the first hip hop artist to blur the musical genres of Hip Hop and Country with the chart-topping hit Over and Over with Tim McGraw. He was also the first HipHop artist to accompany the most prestigious orchestras including St. Louis, Columbus and Pittsburgh, again blending musical styles and garnering great reviews.
Late Night started in 1985 and features music by the KU pep band, routines from KU’s spirit squad and dance teams and video highlights from KU’s award-winning Rock Chalk Video department, coach and player introductions, scrimmages and much more.
Information on the events surrounding Late Night, including Phogfest, will be announced at a later date. Information on how to claim tickets for the event will also be released later this summer.
Last week, Kansas Men’s Basketball released its non-conference schedule for the 2024-25 season, which will also celebrate the 70th season inside historic Allen Fieldhouse. Fans looking to renew their season tickets can do so through their online account and those who are interested in purchasing new season tickets for the upcoming campaign, can submit and interest for here. Women’s Basketball tickets are also available now by clicking here.
History of Late Night
Late Night in the Phog at the University of Kansas continues to be one of the most well-attended season kick-off events in all of college basketball. Each year, fans pack into Allen Fieldhouse to catch an off-beat look at the Jayhawks to get a sneak peek at the highly-touted newcomers. But it hasn’t always been the highly anticipated event that it is today.
By all accounts, it began as an afterthought. Some 6,000 fans, mostly students, gathered in Allen Fieldhouse at 12:01 a.m., on a Tuesday in October in 1985 for the inaugural “Late Night with Larry Brown.”
At that time, Bill Self was a young KU graduate assistant in the early stages of molding his Hall of Fame career in coaching. Danny Manning was a promising forward primed to take the Big Eight Conference by storm. Brown was in the process of building the team that would make it to the Final Four in Dallas that March, eventually winning the national championship two years later under the moniker ‘Danny and the Miracles.’
Little did Brown know that in the 39 years after his brainchild barely registered a blip on the radar, Late Night in the Phog would become a cornerstone of one of the most successful and fanatically-followed basketball programs in the nation.
In fact, at Late Night in 2003, Self’s first Late Night as KU head coach, Brown delivered one of the most memorable speeches in Kansas basketball history, “There is no better place to coach. There is no better place to go to school. There is no better place to play. It’s because of you people here.”
Late Night is highlighted by skits, lip-syncs and dance routines performed by the players themselves. Over the years, the crowds, all capacity gatherings since 1991, have witnessed hundreds of performances and ferocious dunks as Kansas prepared for its first official practice of the season.
Since 1988-89, the Jayhawk women’s basketball team has taken on a greater share of the Late Night load and shares center court with the KU men’s team.
The pep band, cheerleaders, dance team and mascots are also involved in the pre-scrimmage entertainment.
Prior to the 2005-06 season, the NCAA decided to change the season-opening scrimmage time from midnight to earlier in the evening to create a more fan-friendly experience. Now fans of all ages can watch the festivities.
