Kansas may have entered the most difficult stretch of its 2002-03 men’s basketball schedule.
“If this were the Tour de France, we’d be saying we have two straight mountain sections, because we have some very difficult challenges in front of us,” KU coach Roy Williams said Friday.
He was referring to today’s nonconference game against No. 1-ranked Arizona (noon, Allen Fieldhouse) followed by Monday’s Big 12 Conference battle against No. 4 Texas (8 p.m., Allen Fieldhouse).
“Our mindset right now better not be whether this is good or bad, or whether this is hard or this is easy,” said Williams, whose team is ranked sixth. “Our mindset better be that our rear ends didn’t play worth a darn Wednesday night and we’d better play. This could get ugly if we don’t play well.”
Williams was in an ugly mood after Wednesday’s 60-59 loss at unranked Colorado.
“In the locker room the other night, I was mad for the second or third time in 15 years,” he said. “I told them (players) I was mad. I told them I was disappointed. Usually I am smarter and let the tape show them later. And I don’t want the kids to think I’m blaming them. But I was really ticked the other night. They were able to get that message at practice yesterday as well.”
KU’s coach bristled when asked about the mood of the players at Thursday’s practice.
“I didn’t really care because I was ticked,” he said. “I was not too concerned about their attitude, whether they had a smile on their face or not. I didn’t have one on mine.”
The Jayhawks’ problems at CU stemmed from “just stupidity,” the coach said. “We can’t play like that. If we play like that, we are not even a mediocre basketball team. We’ve attempted it a few times this year and got our butts kicked every time.”
KU’s players have been in nasty moods since the CU loss.
“We are mad, angry at that loss,” said junior forward Jeff Graves. “Coach has been hard on us, telling us to play harder, be smarter.”
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Colorful Wildcat: Arizona’s Rick Anderson, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound senior starter from Long Beach, Calif., realizes his favorite hobby wouldn’t be surfing had his grandfather Norm not moved from the central Kansas town of Smolan to the West Coast after World War II.
“It’d be riding horses,” Anderson quipped.
Anderson has several extended family members in town today, most looking for tickets to the game. Anderson’s cousin, Dana Anderson of Mulvane, as of Friday still was looking for tickets. Dana just might be Rick’s biggest fan.
“He’s tall like me. I think that’s the side of the family where I got my height,” Rick Anderson said. “I’ve heard a lot (of family members) are coming, but they can’t get in. I only get two (tickets). They go to Mom and Dad.”
Anderson averages 10.6 points off 56.3 percent shooting. The big guy has drifted outside to hit 11 of 27 threes.
“It’s good to be called the glue (of team),” said Anderson, also referred to by the media as the Wildcats’ “X-factor” for success. “We have a lot of talent on this team and we all just try to do our part.”
Back to surfing, Anderson has met ex-Jayhawk center Eric Chenowith, who also is a California native and a surfer.
“He says he surfs,” Anderson said with a laugh, “but I’ve heard he really can’t.”
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Series ends today: Today’s game completes a home-and-home series between KU and UA.
“This is a series that would be great to continue. Both programs do things the right way. Both have kids who play hard,” UA coach Lute Olson said. “I’ll have a chance to talk to Roy about continuing the series.”
Olson said the Wildcats begin a series next year with Oklahoma.
“I think Lute and I need to talk and see what we really want. Both of us play a very difficult, demanding schedule anyway. Do you need another one?” Williams said, referring to a tough game. “If you are going to do another one, do you want to do one like this?
“If we do flip the coin again and decide who gets the first home game, I’ll try to have one of my former coaches flip it this time like he did last time.”
Williams and Olson agreed to this series while recruiting at a summer tournament in Las Vegas.
“I said, ‘Where do you want to play first?’ He said, ‘Well, what do you think?’ I said, ‘Let’s have this guy flip a coin and we’ll see right here.”‘ Williams said. “We were standing on the end of the court in Las Vegas. The guy flipped the coin and I lost, and then Lute later told me that guy used to be one of his players. I’m not saying they cheated or anything, but you’re in Las Vegas, and they have two-sided coins probably more so than anywhere. We laughed about it later.”
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No Wayne: Williams said injured forward Wayne Simien still is not ready to play.
“Wayne will not play Saturday or Monday. Period,” Williams said. “He’s not ready to play.
“When he does get to that point, we’ll let everyone know about it. We won’t run him out there in a new number or anything like that and try and make it a surprise. He’s just not ready to play.”
Simien shoots at practice, but he has yet to be cleared for scrimmaging situations.
Arizona forward Luke Walton, who has a bad ankle (8.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg) is “70 percent,” Olson said.
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Pierce in house: Ex-Jayhawk Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics will have his jersey retired in ceremonies at today’s game. Pierce exploded for 45 points Friday night in Boston in the Celts’ 77-58 win over the Denver Nuggets.
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Hill here: Steven Hill, a 6-foot-11 junior from Branson, Mo., will attend today’s game as part of his official recruiting visit. He is considering KU, Arkansas, Missouri and others.
