The Kansas University backup point guard and his loved ones talked basketball, and Jeff’s big brother, Floyd, offered an opinion about the sophomore’s performance this season.

“My brother told me I should stop shooting threes the first time I got out there, try to drive in or get my mid-range game going,” Hawkins said of Floyd, a 24-year-old former Kansas City Sumner and Langston University standout who works as a computer software engineer for Sprint.

“He said doing some other things might help me become more comfortable out there.”

Message fully digested.

Scott McClurg/Journal-World Photo

Hawkins had his best game as a Jayhawk Monday at TCU. The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder tallied 19 points — his previous high was six — in KU’s 85-66 victory over the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth, Texas.

Hawkins still hoisted a batch of threes — he made five of seven — but also was 2-for-2 from two-point land and dished one assist with a block in 23 minutes.

“I think one thing that got me going is coach got on me about guarding number 10,'” Hawkins said after coach Bill Self admonished him when TCU’s Marcus Shropshire hit his first of three threes in the first half.

“He got on me real bad. Coach said, ‘Can you guard number 10?’ I said, ‘I can guard him.’ He hit another shot and coach said, ‘Can you guard him?’

“I came out and coach kind of fired me up. I got angry, not at him. I was angry at myself. Then after a time out I threw a lob to Bryant Nash (for dunk). That got me going.”

Hawkins was so effective that, for a night, he made folks forget about Michael Lee being out because of a broken collarbone.

“I knew coming in this game Mike Lee wasn’t playing and somebody had to step up,” Hawkins said. “I had that in the back of my mind, step up, do whatever it takes to win the game.”

The Jayhawks were impressed.

“Jeff was great. I told Jeff I don’t know if we win the game without him,” Self said.

Keith Langford, who led KU with 24 points, wasn’t surprised.

“I can believe it,” Langford said. “I always said coach (Roy) Williams knew what he was doing in bringing in talent. Jeff the last couple of years has given the guys fits at practice. This helps his confidence a lot.”

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Simien honored: KU junior Wayne Simien, who scored 28 points in KU’s 81-74 win over Michigan State, Monday was named Big 12 player of the week. Texas freshman P.J. Tucker is the rookie of the Week.

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Childress out: Stanford junior Josh Childress will miss Saturday’s game against KU (3 p.m., The Pond, Anaheim, Calif.) Childress, who chose Stanford over Kansas in recruiting, has a stress reaction in his left foot. Stanford is 3-0.

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No change in policy: Like Roy Williams, Self plans to schedule games in his recruits’ hometowns. Keith Langford made his return trip Monday to Fort Worth.

“I think it’s a good thing to do and something you should do. It’s something we will always continue,” Self said. “We recruited Russell Robinson from New York and it will give us a chance to schedule a game for him on the East coast. We are playing in Anaheim, which I think was scheduled for Omar Wilkes. I don’t know if you have to go back as a freshman or sophomore. I think sometimes scheduling is done far in advance and you won’t be able to accommodate players until they are juniors or seniors.”

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Early arrival: The Jayhawks, whose game with TCU ended about midnight Tuesday, returned via charter and arrived in Lawrence at 4:15 a.m., in time to take a nap before attending Tuesday classes. Self gave the players a day off practice. He, however, worked, hitting the road on a recruiting trip.