Xavier Henry to Have Surgery; Kansas, Memphis Roll in Exos

Xavier Henry, the No. 1 shooting guard in the Class of 2009, will undergo surgery on Thursday morning to repair a broken cheekbone and a damaged area underneath his eye and nose, Jayhawk Slant reported.

Henry suffered the injuries during a car crash Oct. 22 in Oklahoma City and he has been unable to practice with the basketball team since.

“We believe he does have to wear a face-mask,” Carl Henry, Xavier’s father, told me the other day. “All the swelling is down and everything is back to normal. He’s doing a lot better than they thought he would.”

Carl Henry told me Xavier would decide this week between Kansas and Memphis, but it now appears that the decision/announcement could be put off until next week. He will make his official announcement on ESPNU, just as Ryan Kelly (Duke) and Jordan Hamilton (Texas) did, and Derrick Favors plans to do.

“I think the hardest [part] is his brother [C.J. Henry] is at Memphis,” Carl said. “I believe he wants to go to Kansas but then again with his brother at Memphis, he might want to go there also.”

“I can you tell I don’t know [where he’s going],” Carl said. “We don’t know because he’s different than our other son. He doesn’t even talk about it. We will do a little sit down where he writes down some stuff about each school. Then he picks the school.

“He can pick Kansas or Memphis, it doesn’t bother us one bit.”

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Speaking of Kansas and Memphis, both teams had exhibition games last night.

Sherron Collins scored 22 points and handed out seven assists to lead four Jayhawks in double-figure points as the defending NCAA champion Kansas basketball team opened exhibition play with a 98-79 victory against Washburn here Tuesday night.

The victory was the 32^nd consecutive exhibition win for the Jayhawks dating back to 1995 when KU lost to Lisbonne Benfica 101-93. KU head coach Bill Self improved to 18-0 in exhibition games at Kansas, including an 11-0 home record.

Kansas, which is ranked 24^th in the preseason Associated Press poll and 23^rd in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, started Collins, a junior, along with four sophomores in Conner Teahan, Brady Morningstar, Tyrel Reed (pictured) and Cole Aldrich.

Reed hit five of six three-pointers for 16 points, while Morningstar added 15 points and former St. Patrick of Elizabeth standout Quintrell Thomas added 10 points. Thirteen of Reed’s 16 points came in the first half, while Morningstar scored 10 of his 15 in the opening period as well.

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Senior Robert Dozier posted a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds, and junior Shawn Taggart followed with a double-double performance of 10 points and 10 boards to lift No. 13/12 Memphis to an 83-52 exhibition victory over NCAA Division II foe Christian Brothers at FedExForum on Tuesday.

Junior Pierre Henderson-Niles (pictured) also grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with his nine points. Junior Doneal Mack added 18 points and freshman Wesley Witherspoon scored 14 points.

The Tigers got off to a slow start, falling behind 12-6 in the game’s opening seven minutes. Memphis grabbed its first lead at 13-12 after a 7-0 run over the next two minutes. The Tigers, though, gained the lead from the foul line, as they hit 9-of-9 from the charity stripe in that stretch. Memphis managed only two field goals in the game’s opening minutes.

“I knew the start was going to be this way,” said Tiger head coach John Calipari. “I told them (CBU) is a good team. They’re a senior group and probably a top-20 Division II team. We pressed and did some good things. We really only played eight guys the whole game, and there were things I really liked, as well as things we need to work on.