Indianapolis — Quentin Grimes and Devon Dotson carried the Kansas backcourt. Udoka Azubuike and Dedric Lawson did the damage in the frontcourt. And the rest of the Jayhawks who played did just enough to help KU race past Michigan State, 92-87, at the Champions Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

With just two exhibition games under their belts, we did not have a whole lot to go on when breaking down this Kansas team. But we sure do now.

In front of a big crowd on a bright stage and on one of the biggest nights in college basketball, the Jayhawks played good offense and enough defense to move to 1-0 on the season.

In what will go down as Tom Keegan's final KU Sports Extra at the Journal-World, we broke down the game and reacted to some of the things that went down during KU's season opener on Tuesday night.

The Jayhawks will return to action Monday, back at Allen Fieldhouse, when they welcome Vermont to Lawrence for Game 2.

Kansas basketball players Ochai Agbaji, Udoka Azubuike and Marcus Garrett discuss their team's 79-52 exhibition win over Washburn.

The Jayhawks face Michigan State to open the season on Tuesday.

Bill Self discusses his Kansas basketball team's 79-52 exhibition win over Washburn.

The Jayhawks face Michigan State to open the season on Tuesday.

Kansas junior center Udoka Azubuike got to show off his improved free throw stroke Thursday night in the Jayhawks’ exhibition win over Washburn.

After going 0 for 2 at the foul line in KU’s preseason opener a week earlier, Azubuike knocked in five in a row and five of six overall on his way to 17 points in 18 minutes.

“It really boosts my confidence,” Azubuike said of his showing. “Free throws are something I’ve been working on throughout the offseason. You can see my whole form’s totally changed and I’ve been working on it.”

Azubuike said he was able to compose himself and follow his routine at the charity stripe, and he was glad to see them go in. The 7-footer added the key to his success is a more natural form on his foul shots.

A former guard and assistant coach at the University of Kansas, Washburn head coach Brett Ballard returned to Allen Fieldhouse as an opponent Thursday night.

After KU's 79-52 win, Ballard discussed how it felt and how his Ichabods handled taking on the No. 1 team in the country.

A day before his No. 1-ranked Kansas basketball team’s second and final preseason exhibition, coach Bill Self was asked if he’d prefer the Jayhawks were flying under the radar entering the season.

“I’d prefer to have good enough players to be ranked number one and not be ranked there,” Self replied, while fielding questions inside Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday afternoon.

“That’s probably the perfect scenario, but that doesn’t happen like that. I’d rather be there than not there. And the fact that if we don’t play to it early on, I think that’s OK, too, because I don’t know what a preseason ranking is supposed to be — who the best team is on November 5, or who is projected to be the best team over time,” Self said.

“I do believe that we’ll be OK early and hopefully pretty good,” the KU coach added. “But I know we can be very good after we get a little experience under our belt.”

Self addressed the preseason expectations surrounding his team and many other topics, including facing a former assistant, Washburn head coach Brett Ballard.

The Kansas men's basketball team opened exhibition play with a 93-55 victory over Emporia State on Thursday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Junior transfer Dedric Lawson led Kansas with 31 points and 15 rebounds but neither he nor KU coach Bill Self were all that impressed with the big stat totals after the game.

Five KU freshmen made their unofficial Kansas debuts.

And the top-ranked Jayhawks have one more tune-up (next Thursday vs. Washburn at Allen Fieldhouse) before opening the regular season against No. 10 Michigan State at the Champions Classic in Indianapolis.

Kansas freshman guard Quentin Grimes, after scoring 10 points in the Jayhawks’ exhibition win over Emporia State, discusses the defense KU played in the 93-55 victory.

“If we play like me, Lagerald (Vick) and Marcus (Garrett) out there, it’s a pretty long lineup,” Grimes said of the team’s potential speed and effectiveness on the defensive end. “We can deny. We’re all big guards and we can all guard smaller guards.”

Emporia State made just 20 of its 72 shots (27.8 percent) against Kansas.

Following his 31-point, 15-rebound night against Emporia State, Kansas junior forward Dedric Lawson discusses his first unofficial game at Allen Fieldhouse.

Lawson, who shot 11 of 16 from the floor and went seven of nine at the foul line, didn’t think any of his baskets stood out.

The junior from Memphis also explains where he picked up his ball-handling skills and how he describes himself positionally.

“I say I’m a versatile four that can bring the ball up the floor and make shots and make plays for others,” Lawson said.

Kansas City, Mo. — During Kansas basketball coach Bill Self’s hour of speaking with reporters Wednesday afternoon at Big 12 media day, the verdict in the federal trial on college basketball corruption came through.

Self was informed of the guilty verdict and asked for a reaction, but declined to comment in the moment.

“I will have a comment after sometime this afternoon our university makes a comment,” Self said.