Aaron Miles didn’t catch grief from Oregon basketball fans last summer.
“Nah,” said Miles, who spent much of the summer in his hometown of Portland, site of last year’s 84-78 loss to the Ducks. “The people I know just talked about our chances of winning the national championship. That’s all that came up.”
The polite Beaver State folks didn’t needle Kansas University’s junior point guard, who picked a rotten time to have one of the worst games of his college career.
On that December day, the 6-foot-1 Miles scored just four points off 1-of-11 shooting. He missed four of five three-pointers and had seven turnovers against four assists.
“Losing to Oregon … it was at the beginning of the season. Nobody was talking about that last summer,” said Miles, who insists he hasn’t dwelled on that defeat.
He says, “Somewhat,” asked if he’s psyched about a chance to redeem himself in Saturday’s KU-Oregon rematch at 1 p.m. at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.
“This is a new year,” Miles said. “I’m doing different things than last year. I have a different role on this team. It’s a big game because it’s the next game.”
C’mon, there must be extra adrenaline flowing for this game, right? “I try to be fired up for every game,” Miles said. “Being that they beat us last year, we do want to beat them.”
Regardless, the poker-faced Miles figures to bring his A-game to the Kemper.
“He’ll be fired up,” said KU junior Michael Lee, Miles’ best friend and another product of Portland’s Jefferson High.
“Aaron will be ready to go. It’s the mark of a good player to want to get back on the court, get redemption. He knows he didn’t play well last time and will be ready to go.”
KU coach Bill Self agrees.
“I think he’ll be jacked for this one,” Self said. “I think he’ll be excited to play a lot probably because of his home state and everything.
“Aaron has to get back to playing at the same energy level, creating things offensively and defensively like he was early in the season,” said Self, not thrilled with KU’s offense the past two games.
“We’ve been pretty stale as far as making things happen. This will be hopefully a game he’ll get back to playing the way I think he’s capable of playing.”
Miles and Self met before practice Thursday to discuss Miles’ recent play.
“He told me some things I need to do. I’ll take it and run with it, bring intensity to the floor at all times,” Miles said. “I’ll try to make players on my team better.”
Lee, out until the Colorado game Jan. 5 because of a broken collarbone, also isn’t bugged by last year’s loss to the Ducks.
“I don’t think I lost any bragging rights from that game,” Lee said. “After the Oregon game last year, a lot of people were proud of me, proud of how I performed.”
Lee had a big game against Oregon, scoring 11 points with eight rebounds in 20 minutes. It could be considered his breakout game, as Lee became KU’s sixth man after that contest.
“I guess you could look at it that way in terms of how the season was going at that point,” Lee said. “My real coming-out party was the practice before when coach got on me.”
KU coach Roy Williams had challenged Lee the practice before the Oregon game, questioning his heart and desire.
The 3-0 Ducks won’t be easy prey, and KU’s Oregonians said it would take intangibles for 4-1 KU to prevail. Miles and Lee each know several of the Ducks, including former Jefferson High teammate Brandon Lincoln, a 6-4 sophomore who averages 10.0 points a game.
“We went to middle school together and played on the same team since sixth grade all the way through high school,” Lee said. “He’s an athletic combo guard.”
The Ducks best player is Luke Jackson, a 6-7 senior All-America candidate, who has hit for 21 points and seven boards a game.
“I played against him all the way through elementary and middle school,” Miles said. “He’s a very good player. I know quite a few of those guys. They will play an up-tempo game. They are very talented. I think it’ll be a fast-paced game.”
Miles and Lee need a win to improve their career mark against the home-state school to 2-1. KU beat Oregon, 104-86, in an Elite Eight game in 2002 in Madison, Wis., where Miles had six points off 2-of-10 shooting with eight assists. Lee entered in the final minute and didn’t score.
“We just want to play well and win. I think we are starting to get it together,” Miles said.