KU’s Bill Self praises students for enthusiasm during monster home schedule
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bill Self praises student energy for boosting Allen Fieldhouse this season.
- Students cheered wildly at Allen Fieldhouse in the win over No. 5 Houston.
- Kansas will play back-to-back road games at Arizona and Arizona State.
Bill Self has never taken for granted Kansas’ student-section support in Allen Fieldhouse in his 23 seasons as Jayhawk men’s basketball coach.
The man — who has been known to, on occasion, bring donuts or pizza for the students who camp out before home games — on Sunday morning spoke to the 2,500 members of the student body who had gathered in the lower-level north bleachers for the ticket lottery held prior to Monday night’s game against No. 5-ranked Houston.
He asked the students to bring their A-game on Monday, and they delivered, cheering wildly during the No. 14-ranked Jayhawks’ 69-56 victory over the Cougars, a team that returned three starters from last year’s national runner-up squad.
“They were so good last night. The energy right before tipoff and throughout the game,” Self said, praising the students on Tuesday’s Hawk Talk radio show.
It should be noted that once again the students never considered storming the court — that doesn’t happen after victories at blue-blood KU. Instead they posed for selfies with KU senior Melvin Council Jr. after the Jayhawks went through the handshake line with the Cougars.
“I don’t know that we’ve had a better season from an opponent standpoint where our student body has been more engaged than what they’ve been this year. I think our student body has just been great,” Self added.
The students have enjoyed cheering the Jayhawks (21-7, 11-4 in Big 12) as the team has navigated what has been called one of the most difficult home slates in KU history.
KU this season has defeated then-No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 Iowa State and No. 5 Houston at Allen Fieldhouse and also lost to No. 5 UConn in the building. KU has tied five programs for most home victories over Associated Press top-5 teams in a single season (since the 1989-90 campaign). Others with three home wins over the top 5 since then: Oklahoma (1989-90), USC (1991-92), Indiana (2011-12), KU (2011-12), Villanova (2012-13), Michigan State (2000-2021).
KU this season also has defeated then-No. 13 BYU at Allen Fieldhouse.
“We’ve had some good teams roll through there, no question,” Self said on Hawk Talk.
Of his interaction with the students during his short speech Sunday morning, Self said: “It was a great audience because they actually laughed at my material. (We) visited a while, and they were pretty turned up on Monday.”
Self confessed he told the students: “’On Monday night, let’s put it in overdrive, so to speak,’ and they did.’”
Kansas will hit the road for its next two games.
The Jayhawks will meet Arizona at 3 p.m. Central on Saturday in Tucson, then take on Arizona State at 8 p.m. Central on Tuesday, March 3, in Tempe. The Jayhawks will stay in Arizona between games because of the short period between games.
