KU basketball team arrives safe and sound, but a bit tired, on Tuesday in Honolulu

Kansas’ basketball players, coaches and support staff members survived an exhausting travel day in good spirits on Tuesday.

“It was long. We had a wake-up call at 3:45 (a.m.), then departed (for airport) at 4:15,” KU coach Bill Self said, speaking to reporters at 5:30 p.m. in Hawaii (9:30 p.m. Central) upon exiting a bus in front of the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, the Jayhawks’ home until Friday.

KU will meet Indiana at 8:30 p.m. Friday in the season-opening Armed Forces Classic at Stan Sheriff Center on the University of Hawaii campus, then immediately board a flight for New York in advance of Tuesday’s Champions Classic contest against Duke.

“We always call it negative driving when you go in an opposite direction of where you want to go. We did some negative flying today,” Self said with a smile. “We flew to Atlanta then got on a great plane but it was a nine-hour flight here from Atlanta. It’s been a long day for the fellas.”

Self said his squad, which dined at Naval Base at Pearl Harbor shortly after arriving Tuesday afternoon, will practice at 9 a.m. Hawaii time (1 p.m. Central) Wednesday on the base. The Jayhawks will then tour a destroyer and the USS Arizona before holding a clinic for kids.

Self said his players won’t have problems adjusting to Hawaii time.

“It doesn’t mean we’ll play well, but we’ve never had a problem coming in this direction,” Self said. “You get four more hours of rest. We’ll have a curfew tonight (Tuesday) at 9 o’clock, 1 o’clock our time. Guys slept on the plane, too. We’ll be up and at ’em tomorrow morning at 7:15. I don’t think it (travel) will be an issue.”

Self said Thursday would be “more of a free day.”

Pressed on the matter, however, he said, “we’ll have a free day from 2 to 3 p.m. They (players) definitely will be free for that hour.”

Self said the Jayhawks arrived, “pretty healthy. We’re not necessarily playing great, but we’re pretty healthy.”

Of junior guard Devonté Graham’s cramping in KU’s first two exhibition games, Self said: “He’ll be fine. You always can find something to worry about but I’m not going to worry about that.”

Self on election

Self, who has followed the U.S. Presidential campaign closely this year, tried his best to monitor the results on Election Day.

“I actually purchased Wi-Fi (on plane) to try to watch it,” Self said. “I really couldn’t. It didn’t work very well. But I tried to get it. I couldn’t really get it to work. I watched it a lot since we landed. It looks to me there’s a few surprises going on. I guess expect the unexpected. It’s going to be an interesting watch here the next couple hours.”

Garrett to sign Wednesday

Marcus Garrett, a 6-5 senior combo guard from Skyline High in Dallas, who is ranked No. 37 in the recruiting Class of 2017 by Rivals.com, will sign his national letter-of-intent with KU on Wednesday, he reported on Twitter. Garrett indicated that the first day of the early signing period falls on his birthday. He orally committed to KU on Aug. 1.

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 8:04 AM with the headline "KU basketball team arrives safe and sound, but a bit tired, on Tuesday in Honolulu."