It’s not Nassau in November, but Utah in mid-February for road-tripping Kansas Jayhawks
Rather than spend an excessive amount of time on travel in a four-day span during the second half of a 20-game marathon Big 12 season, the Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team has turned upcoming games against Utah and BYU into a two-game road trip.
KU will play Utah at 9 p.m. Central on Saturday at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, then remain in Utah for Tuesday’s 8 p.m. contest against BYU at theMarriott Center in Provo.
“I think this is great,” KU coach Bill Self said Thursday. “We didn’t get a Thanksgiving trip. We didn’t get a team-bonding trip, where you go to Maui (for the Maui Invitational) or the Bahamas (for the Battle4Atlantis) or whatever.
“Well, instead of going to Nassau, we’re going to go to Salt Lake and Provo, but the reality of it to me is it has the same potential effect as what a Maui (trip) does, or what something else like that does, because this team didn’t get a chance to to do that this year.”
Instead of participating in a multi-team holiday tournament, the Jayhawks over Thanksgiving week played Duke in Las Vegas and Furman at Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks will leave for Utah Friday and return to Lawrence in the early-morning hours after the game Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
“It won’t be much different than a normal trip, except there will be a Sunday that we will do something that will be out of the ordinary that hopefully can can be some team bonding type stuff,” Self said of perhaps practicing in the home of the Utah Jazz NBA team, or perhaps taking a short sightseeing trip somewhere near Salt Lake City.
“Hopefully Sunday will be an opportunity for us to do some team bonding,” he said.
The team will head from Salt Lake City to Provo on Monday for a shootaround at the Marriott Center.
The Jayhawks will be heading to high altitude for these two games against teams with similar records. Utah is 5-8 in Big 12 play and 13-11 overall. BYU is 7-6 and 16-8. KU, ranked No. 17 in the country, is 8-5 in conference, 17-7 overall.
How will the Jayhawks combat the altitude?
“The games are indoors, so it surely shouldn’t affect us,” Self said with a smile. “You could look it up. Salt Lake and Provo are right around 4,200 feet (Salt Lake is 4,265 feet, Provo 4,551) and Boulder (Colorado, where KU will play Feb. 24) is right around 5,200 (5,430), so the altitude could play a factor.
“But the altitude is not like going to Laramie, Wyoming, either, where you’re playing at 7,000,” Self added. “That will be something that we’ll know about it as a staff, but we’re not going to spend much time talking about it.”
KU senior guard David “Diggy” Coit, a transfer from Northern Illinois and native of Columbus, New Jersey, said he had never been to a high-altitude city.
“What do you mean by altitude? The air and all that?” Coit asked reporters with a smile. “Never, never been in anything like that. I don’t know how that’s about to feel. Are you more tired? This is like a scientific fact?
“I’ve got to work on some conditioning at practice today, I guess,” he continued. “I never paid attention to that. But if it’s a real thing, I hope it’s on our side.”
Of the trip, Coit said: “I think it’s going to be a good experience. It’s my first road trip here that’s more than one game. Back to back (games), I’m excited. It’s going to be fun.”
There’s a chance the Jayhawks could see former KU guard Svi Mykhailiuk of the Jazz on the trip The NBA team plays at home Thursday night, then hits the road until Feb. 21. This weekend is the league’s All-Star weekend.
“I don’t know if we’ll see Svi or not,” Self said. “We’re practicing there (at the Delta Center) on Sunday, but I don’t know if the Jazz are in town yet or not. I hope they are. What’s that? All-Star weekend? So Svi may be there, but I don’t know yet or not.”
KU will return home to meet Oklahoma State a week from Saturday. Tipoff for that game is 3 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 6:18 PM.
