Kansas, Missouri Basketball on Oct. 22 to Raise Money for Hurricane Victims

The University of Kansas and University of Missouri men's basketball teams will play an exhibition game Oct. 22 to benefit hurricane victims.    

Jayhawks head coach Bill Self confirmed plans for the Tigers' scrimmage Friday, per KC Sports Monitor‏. Daniel Jones of the Columbia Tribune noted the contest will take place at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.

Missouri basketball announced the sides received a waiver from the NCAA in order to play the extra preseason game, which has been dubbed the Showdown for Relief. The proceeds will benefit those impacted by hurricanes in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mizzou head coach Cuonzo Martin said:

"The opportunity to use the platform of college basketball to help so many people in need is the most important aspect of this event. Buy tickets to this game, but also please donate if you are able to, as there are people in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who need our support. This scrimmage will not only be fun for fans of Mizzou and Kansas, but also for people all over the world."

Although Kansas and Missouri once owned one of the nation's longest rivalries, nicknamed the Border War, this will be the first basketball meeting since 2012. The Tigers' departure from the Big 12 for the SEC brought an end to the annual meetings, with UK opting against non-conference clashes.

Jones noted Tigers athletic director Jim Sterk said in June there "wasn't any interest" from their side in playing a football game in K.C. Self sounded more optimistic about potentially getting things back going on the basketball court at some point, though.

Self told reporters in July:

"I'm sure there will be a time where Kansas and Missouri play again. I don't know when that time will be. People seem to think it's up to me to make that call. I mean, we have an athletic director. We have a chancellor. We have other people that are involved with that. I do think that I caught the majority of the attention initially when I said, 'They left us. We don't have to play them.' I was probably the only one quoted with what everybody else thought."

It's unclear whether the exhibition game could open the door for further meetings in the future.

Steve Liesman of CNBC noted Moody's Analytics estimated the U.S. property damage from Hurricanes Irma and Harvey at up to $200 billion, which doesn't even factor in the other Atlantic Ocean storms that impacted the Caribbean during the current hurricane season.