Jayhawks arrive in New York for second part of season-opening trip

Kansas’ basketball team practiced at a high school Saturday afternoon in New York after arriving safe and sound in the Big Apple.

Chances are 14th-year Jayhawk coach Bill Self, who had plenty of time to ponder Friday’s 103-99 loss to Indiana on a pair of flights from Honolulu to the host city for Tuesday’s Champions Classic game against No. 1 Duke, had some important points to make before requiring his Jayhawks to get some rest as they try to overcome jet lag in preparation for a big week.

“We can do something tomorrow,” Self said Friday night, referring to “teaching” some lessons from a game in which Indiana hit 15 of 31 three-pointers for a sizzling 48.1 percent. In a strange twist, both teams hit 31 of 71 shots overall for 43.7 percent.

“The reality is so many possessions, you’ve got to be able to guard your man. You’ve got to pay attention to scouting report. We played like it was a first game. If you are playing a ‘buy game’ (guarantee game in opener against a small to mid-major school) obviously it’s a different outcome and you can kind of teach through that. We didn’t play to scouting report very well,” he added. “We let drivers … they’ve got right-handed dominant guys. We let them go right. Give ’em three points and put them on the line.”

KU’s 32 team fouls were the most by the Jayhawks since recording 31 at Texas on Feb. 1, 2014. KU, which was outrebounded 50-39, did hit 30 free throws in 38 tries, while Indiana was 26 of 36.

Frank Mason had career highs in free throws made (13) and free throws attempted (15). Mason scored KU’s final 11 points of regulation, propelling KU into overtime for the 123rd time in history. The Jayhawks are 66-57 in overtime games and 7-6 in neutral site OT games.

“We’re in Honolulu and it’s Nov. 11,” said Indiana coach Tom Crean, “but it feels like March in here and that’s exactly the way the game played out.”

To ESPN’s crew, Crean said: “Before we came out to start the game, I said, ‘It really feels like March.’ That was a March game. That really was. Maybe it’ll be an April game somewhere, I don’t know.

“In a game like this, that’s measured like that, that’s so nip and tuck, every play is big. You just have to keep finding a way to be resilient, and these guys did,” Crean added.

Friday’s game featured 16 ties and 17 lead changes. Last season’s season-high 18 lead changes for KU came against Kentucky on Jan. 30 in Allen Fieldhouse.

Foreshadowing?

Self, who is in favor of playing Indiana in the future, now is 4-4 versus the Hoosiers.

“Playing in Assembly Hall (in Bloomington, Ind.) when I was at Illinois was the hardest place to play in the Big Ten, when I was there,” Self said. “Everybody talks about other places and they are great, but on the nights that we played, that was the toughest and in large part, the year we played them was one of the times over there they went to the National Championship and they were 16 of 21 from three — their guards were during the game. That maybe was one reason why the building was jumping a little bit. But we had some really competitive games with those guys.”

Of perhaps playing KU in the future, Crean said: “If we could make it work out, especially a home and home situation, I think that could be really good. Hopefully that’s something we could visit later this year and see what happens.”

Coleby didn’t get in game

KU junior forward Dwight Coleby did not play in a game in which KU used 10 players. Self said it was coach’s decision, not injury related. Self said it was a tough matchup for Coleby with Indiana playing four guards.

This story was originally published November 12, 2016 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Jayhawks arrive in New York for second part of season-opening trip."