Kansas Jayhawks face a quick turnaround & limited prep for Gonzaga in NCAA Tournament
Kansas men’s basketball players — who learned they’d be playing perennial powerhouse Gonzaga at 1:15 p.m. local (2:15 p.m. Central) Saturday moments after surviving a scare from Samford — were given strict orders by coach Bill Self after returning from Delta Center to team headquarters at the Marriott City Center Hotel just before the clock struck midnight.
“Coach gave us some food, told us to get some sleep and get off our feet,” said KU senior forward Parker Brown on Friday. “It’s what we did. We got to sleep in today, too. I think everybody got enough rest.”
The fact No. 4-seeded KU (23-10) played the late game Thursday and is scheduled for an early-afternoon, second-round game Saturday is seen by some pundits as a major disadvantage.
The Jayhawks, who defeated Samford 93-89 late Thursday night, next face No. 5 Gonzaga. Gonzaga defeated No. 12-seed McNeese 86-65 in what turned out to be a low stress first-round game earlier Thursday night.
“I was up until probably like 1:30 or 2. You’re not going to be able to sleep that early, especially after a ‘W,’’’ said KU point guard Dajuan Harris. He scored 13 points with seven assists and four turnovers while playing 36 minutes versus Samford.
“I still got enough rest. We had a 1 o’clock, 1 p.m. wake-up (call). So we got a lot of rest,” Harris added.
Harris, of course, didn’t sleep all the way until the 1 p.m. deadline.
“I started watching basketball games,” Harris said, adding, “I don’t think anybody is going to sleep that long. If you are sleeping that long that means you’ve got to go to sleep more often. You don’t need to go to sleep that long.”
Harris does not see Saturday’s early afternoon tip as a problem.
“They’re always saying negative stuff. We let that go over our heads,” Harris said of predictions of a possible ragged effort from the Jayhawks because of the start time.
“Gonzaga played a game yesterday, too. They’re going to be tired, too. We’ve got to get some fluid in and worry about ourselves,” Harris noted.
Senior center Hunter Dickinson, who scored 19 points and grabbed 20 rebounds while playing 37 minutes Thursday in his first game back after suffering a dislocated shoulder two weeks ago, said he’s not concerned about playing so soon after KU’s Round of 64 victory.
“It’s better than playing whenever we played, 9:30 last night,” Dickinson said. “(Playing at) 1:15 or 1:30, whatever it is — I assume it gets pushed back either way — but it’ll be a good time for us.”
Wearing a heat pad on his shoulder while talking with media members Friday, Dickinson said he’s feeling fine physically after playing so many productive minutes Thursday against Samford.
“It’s feeling a lot better than I thought I was going to feel,” he said of his shoulder. “I did a little bit of recovery last night, a little recovery this morning,” Dickinson said. “My body is feeling pretty good for playing however many minutes I played at that kind of pace.”
Self on Friday was also asked the challenges of playing a late game Thursday with an early game set for Saturday.
“I’ve done this a long time, and I can’t remember what I had for dinner last night. So I can’t remember if it’s happened before,” said Self, now in his 21st season as KU coach. “The one-day breaks in between are always tough. But this is a little extreme, I think, to get out of here at midnight and play that soon the next day. It’s hard. It’s going to be difficult for everybody.
“Arizona is playing 2 1/2 hours before us (against Dayton in Salt Lake). Their wake-up call will be at 7 (a.m.) or whatever time. The difficult thing is after a late night, and, of course, we had to (expend) all the energy we had to win the game. After a late night, now we’re going to prepare for a team that’s terrific and we’ll have a 20-minute walk-through (Friday) because we’ve got to keep our guys off their feet.
“So that’s the challenge in the second game of a two-game tournament and also the challenge of a Saturday/Monday in the Big 12. So hopefully that will help prepare us for what we’ve got to do.”
Dickinson said he’s looking forward to the matchup against a Gonzaga team that has won 10 of its last 11 games.
These are two of the blue bloods of the 21st century when it comes to NCAA basketball,” Dickinson said. “Coach (Mark) Few has a great team every year. They are always super successful not only in the regular season, but in the postseason. I think obviously they are trying to win a national championship here. They have a great team to do it. We have a great group of guys as well led by coach Self, best in the business. I think it’ll be a really good matchup.”
Harris said: “You grow up watching games like that. It’ll be fun playing a game like that, up and down too.”
