The Kansas City Star reported that sophomore guard J.R. Giddens was the primary instigator in the fight, which left him with a severed artery in his leg, outside the Moon Bar on May 19.

The newspaper cited Jeremiah Creswell, a 24-year-old Olathe resident who stabbed Giddens, and three other eyewitnesses as sources.

Two of the four sources have criminal records.

The witnesses told the Star that Giddens punched Creswell in the face, which started a melee of at least 10 people that hit Creswell with bottles and bricks.

Freshman forward C.J. Giles and former basketball player Bryant Nash also threw punches in the brawl, according to the article.

Giddens responded to the article by telling the Star that he did not start the fight.

“I know what you've heard, but that's not true,” Giddens told the newspaper.

“All those people can say what they want to say. I'm sure the story will come out one-sided. That's fine. It still doesn't mean it's true."

Kansas coach Bill Self said that he would not take a position on the issue until the Lawrence Police Department finished its investigation.

“I'm not going to defend him, and I'm not going to prosecute him,'' he said.

“I'm just going to let it run its course and speak after I know what happened. I think the worst thing I could do is come out and say a guy is guilty when he's not, or come out and defend a guy that's not guilty when he is.

“Out of respect for the process, I won't have a comment one way or another until we give the police a chance to do their job and report back to us what they're investigating."

The Kansas media relations department said no player or coach would comment further on the article because the facts of the fight still weren’t clear and there was nothing new to add.