Self provides even more details on Huggins’ gift. Will he return the favor?

There’s even more to the story of Kansas coach Bill Self wearing a gift from West Virginia’s Bob Huggins — instead of a suit and tie — during the Jayhawks’ 71-66 victory over the Mountaineers on Monday night in Morgantown, W. Va.

The windbreaker that Self modeled during the game, he revealed on Wednesday’s Hawk Talk radio show, actually was not just Jayhawk merchandise, but combined KU-WVU apparel.

“It was a Jayhawk deal with ‘Little General’ on the sleeve,” Self said of the name of a company owned by a West Virginia fan. “You couldn’t tell, but on the other sleeve, it had ‘West Virginia basketball.’

“I actually wore a West Virginia basketball deal for that game,” Self added to laughter from the crowd assembled at a Lawrence restaurant for his radio show.

Self was asked by a Hawk Talk attendee if he would provide Huggins a suit and tie for the KU-West Virginia rematch Feb. 17 at Allen Fieldhouse. Huggins prefers casual wear each and every game.

“No. First of all, he didn’t pay for my windbreaker and if he did it cost 12 dollars, 50 cents, so it’d be a lot more expensive for me to provide a suit for him. So that’s out,” Self cracked.

Self comments on Jo Jo

Self on former KU and Boston Celtics guard Jo Jo White, who died Tuesday at the age of 71: “The last time I had a chance to spend any quality time with him was when he was with family in Springfield (Mass.) when he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

“I was there for a different thing and had a chance to spend some time with him. He’s been on campus multiple times. … He was always dressed to the nines, clean, sharp-looking guy, so complimentary and positive. To hear what the old guys are saying about him as a player, teammate and member of the community, you can certainly see he was a 10 in many phases, not just on the basketball court.”

Self: Svi played his best game

Self lauded the play of seniors Svi Mykhailiuk (17 points, five assists, four rebounds, two steals, 37 minutes) and Devonté Graham (16 points, six assists, three rebounds, two steals, 40 minutes) against West Virginia.

“I did not realize how well Svi played until I watched tape,” Self said of the shooting guard. “I think that’s the best game he’s ever played at Kansas. His on-the-ball defense was terrific. He guarded Carter (Jevon, 14 points, 4-of-15 shooting) as well as anybody did. He played to scouting report.

“The other thing is he got his nose dirty more than he’s used to for sure. People say he turned it over a couple of times (five). People, did you not see what he had to do to rebound before he turned it over the second time? Two guys, both 6-8 6-9 … he fought them both off to get it (rebound).”

Of point guard Graham, Self said: “For Devonté to play 40 minutes … we said all along, ‘We’ll have to play zone or we’ll have to do something. We won’t be able to take Devonté out during their press. We need to rest a little bit.’ That wasn’t the case at all He played all 40 minutes. We guarded them man the whole time.

“I thought his will and leadership and other things were as good as (they’ve been) all year. I thought everybody had great games. Those two definitely had really good games. Their intangibles were probably as good as they have been all year.”

De Sousa makes progress on court

Recent IMG graduate Silvio De Sousa scored two points and grabbed three rebounds in 7 first-half minutes at West Virginia. Self is planning on playing two bigs together in the near future. KU has used a four-guard lineup virtually all season.

“It’s what we worked on today a lot, just trying to play Silvio, Doke (Udoka Azubuike, 10 points, nine rebounds vs. West Virginia) and Mitch (Lightfoot, six points, five boards, one steal) together offensively,” Self said, referring to the three bigs at Wednesday’s practice.

“It’s going to take some time for him (De Sousa) to get comfortable but he’s getting more comfortable. I can’t imagine moving to a foreign place and in three weeks be expected to know everything there is to know when he was playing high school ball three weeks ago. He’s done a nice job. You can see the lights starting to flicker. It (light) is not on, it’s flickering. I really believe he (De Sousa) is going to be a really good player here before long.”

Preston update: ‘We have not given up hope or trying’

Self was asked about freshman Billy Preston on Wednesday on Jeff Goodman’s ESPN radio show.

“There’s no update on Billy except everybody has not, we have not given up hope or trying, but there’s no update,” Self said.

Preston has yet to play in a game this season. KU compliance and the NCAA have been looking into the financial picture surrounding the car Preston has been driving on campus this school year.

“I’d say ‘complicated’ may be a fair word,” Self said of the situation. “Everybody is trying on our end to try to make some good happen. It seems to me whenever we think that’s a possibility then there’s another hangup or potential hangup. I shouldn’t say ‘hangup’ as you know in the climate we’ve got to make sure we dot every ‘I’ and cross every ’T.’ We are still optimistically hopeful on Billy.”

This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 8:17 PM with the headline "Self provides even more details on Huggins’ gift. Will he return the favor?."