Michael Lee and Jeff Graves have been logging the most minutes of any of Kansas University’s bench players of late.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean Jeff Hawkins (one minute played in the last two games), Bryant Nash (four minutes last two games) and Moulaye Niang (five minutes last two games) have been relegated to mop-up duty for the rest of the season.
“I haven’t given up on anybody yet,” said KU coach Roy Williams, who theoretically might be able to use a bunch of players in tonight’s 7 p.m. home game against Div. II Emporia State.
But Williams won’t guarantee a plethora of players making appearances tonight.
“If you say that, you don’t give the respect to the other team, so I will never say that,” he said. “I think my hope is that through several games guys can show they can do it when there’s a crowd in here and not just at practice. That they can handle the excitement, the extra energy, the extra stress, all of it.”
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Lee has scored 18 points with 14 rebounds while totaling 48 minutes in the past three games.
“What he has done is given me more confidence to be able to put him in, that it’s not a factor I’m worried so much about him hurting us,” Williams said of Lee. “I need him to continue to do that and I need one or two more guys to step up and do the same thing.”
Graves, a 6-9, 275-pounder, has grabbed nine boards while logging 37 minutes the past three games.
“‘He’s had some good moments’ is probably the easiest way to say it,” Williams said. “He’s got to be somebody I can trust (to not hurt the team when called on.)”
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Injury update: Kirk Hinrich, who sat out KU’s last game against a Div. II team (Central Missouri on Dec. 4) because of a back strain, should be in the lineup tonight, Williams said.
That’s good news for KU, not Emporia State.
“If I’m family, can’t coach Williams sit out two or three starters as a favor?” joked Emporia State coach David Moe, who’s known Williams for 25 years. “Coach sat out (Wayne) Simien one game and Hinrich another. How about against us?”
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Giddens excels: Williams traveled to St. Louis on Thursday to watch KU signee J.R. Giddens of Oklahoma City score 23 points in Marshall High’s 59-51 victory over Hazelwood (Mo.) High.
The 6-5 Giddens blew a kiss to the crowd after hitting his first shot – a three-pointer. He also had an assortment of dunks.
“He played very well,” Williams said. “He banged his right shoulder. Somebody came down with an elbow and got him on the top of the shoulder. It bothered him, almost like a funny bone-type thing. Other than that he did some nice things. He was 7-of-10 (shooting) at halftime and was 3-of-4 or 3-of-5 from the three-point line.”
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Busy coach: Williams, who was in Tulsa on Wednesday and St. Louis on Thursday, attended a booster luncheon in Wichita before Friday’s practice.
