When Leila Menguc chose to play basketball at Kansas University, about 4,500 miles away from home, she never imagined she would see familiar faces in Allen Fieldhouse.
Tonight the Jayhawks will meet a touring Swedish team, the Solna Vikings, in the first of their two exhibition games. Tipoff is 8:05 p.m.
Solna is a suburb of Stockholm, Mengüç’s hometown, and the KU junior guard knows many of the Swedish players.
“She’s pretty excited,” KU coach Marian Washington said. “She’s busy trying to give us a heads-up on the type of players they are.”
Mengüç’s familiarity provides Washington a hint of what to expect giving the inexperienced Jayhawks could use all the knowledge they can get.
“I actually called home to get some fresh info,” Mengüç said. “I know they’re a running team and they’re shooters. The three-point line is farther back in Sweden, so we’re going to have to step up on that. They’re going to be shooting quite far away from the line.”
Washington certainly welcomes a new season. After last season’s 5-25 disaster, KU has a fairly new roster with nine new faces.
Tonight will be the first game – exhibition or not – since a 63-61 loss to No. 13 Texas in last season’s Big 12 Conference tournament. The heartbreaking defeat ended the Jayhawks’ dismal season on a 17-game losing skid.
Now Washington and the Jayhawks are ready to start fresh.
“We want to see progress,” she said. “That’ll be our major focus, but it’s going to cap everything off if we pull off a win.”
Five of the Vikings’ 11 players are at least 26 years old, and all were key contributors on a Solna squad that captured the 2001-02 Swedish national championship.
“They have so much experience,” Mengüç said. “It doesn’t matter if they don’t have the athleticism they used to have when they were younger. They’re really smart, and they know how to play the game.”
Solna is winless so far on its U.S. tour, bowing by 50 points to Kansas State, by 40 points to Missouri and by 28 to Southwest Missouri State on Monday night.
With freshman Erica Hallman still nursing a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament, Mengüç will assume point guard duties tonight. Also starting will be sophomore Blair Waltz, junior college transfer Aquanita Burras and freshmen Tamara Ransburg and Crystal Kemp.
KU’s second exhibition game will be at 2 p.m. Sunday against Fort Hays State. The regular-season opener is Nov. 24 against Texas-El Paso in Allen Fieldhouse.
F – Anna Hofstrom (5-11)
F – Johanna Axelsson (5-11)
C – Michaela Livijn (6-1)
G – Anna Hoglund (5-10)
G – Cecilia Ferm (5-10)
F – Blair Waltz (6-0)
F – Crystal Kemp (6-2)
C – Tamara Ransburg (6-4)
G – Aquanita Burras (5-9)
G -Leila Mengüç (5-10)
Tipoff: 8:05 p.m., tonight, Allen Fieldhouse.
Radio/TV: None.
