Tempers flared during the first half of the Jayhawks’ heated 98-76 victory. At one point, coaches Bill Self of KU and Scott Clark of SFU exchanged words near the scorer’s table.

“The coach popped off,” Self said, explaining the exchange, which never came close to erupting into a fight after both coaches were steered back toward their benches by peacemakers.

“We thought No. 5 (Brent Charleton) had two cheap shots in a row, and then I said something to the coach. He popped off. That was it. That was all.”

Charleton, a senior guard who scored 24 points, ran hard into KU freshmen Russell Robinson and Alex Galindo while setting picks.

Lyle Stafford/Special to the Journal-World

He had said he was retaliating for what he thought was a cheap shot by KU’s Aaron Miles on an earlier possession.

“I don’t know what happened. It’s a couple of competitive guys,” Clark said of his words with Self. “Brent got one in the groin, and coach Self thought he came back at his players a little bit. I went out. He said something to me. I said something back, and that was that.”

Clark admitted his player was in the wrong.

“He was frustrated. He thought he got it (a shot from Miles) right in front of the official, and it wasn’t called,” Clark said. “Coach Self is probably right. Brent came back on those guys a little bit.”

The game was mighty physical. KU was called for 26 fouls to SFU’s 17.

“We tried to get out there and bang,” Clark said. “We tried to match their intensity level and physicality, to not back down.”

Giddens dandy

J.R. Giddens, who didn’t play during the summer as he recovered from foot and knee surgeries, had 13 points versus SFU and 42 in the three games he played in Canada.

“I thought J.R. played pretty well,” Self said. “Obviously, he’s a guy that has taken the summer off and did a lot of good things. His stroke looks great. He’s probably not as ready to play as Wayne (Simien) is, but is not far off.”

Self was asked if talk about possible early entry into the NBA could distract Giddens this season.

“If it is a distraction, then he’ll have no chance to accomplish that,” Self said. “He has to be mature enough to put all the focus on Kansas. If he’s mature enough to do that, which I think he is, then there will be unbelievable opportunities after that. If he tries to look ahead, he can forget about that. He has to do what it takes to get those opportunities.”

Giddens has said many times he’s only concentrating on his sophomore season.

Langford injury update

KU senior Keith Langford didn’t play Monday after scoring 21 points Saturday night against Fraser Valley. He says he’s 70 percent recovered from offseason surgery on his right knee that repaired cartilage damage.

Langford, who had discomfort in the knee Monday, will be evaluated today or Wednesday to see if he needs any additional work via arthroscope. It’s likely he’ll just continue to rehab the knee in preparation for the start of Oct. 15 practice.

“The only negative that came out of this (trip and preseason practices) is, Keith is just not himself yet,” Self said. “He has a bad wheel. That wasn’t created by our practices. For whatever reason, he’s not responded as well to treatment as we hoped. Obviously, he doesn’t feel good. Last night he felt better. When you can’t go back to back, it’s probably a bad sign.”

Langford said he had been frustrated.

“But I’ll be ready when the time comes,” he added.