Kansas University’s basketball players will take the floor tonight with their minds focused only on hoops.
Final exams wrapped up Friday, meaning the only test will be supplied by Pepperdine in a 6 p.m. tipoff in Allen Fieldhouse.
“I had a couple of hard classes. For me, it was pretty tough. I’m really glad finals are over,” KU sophomore center Sasha Kaun said.
Kaun was weakened by a virus the past two weeks, failing to score with two rebounds in nine minutes in a victory over California after potting two points with three boards in 17 minutes in a loss to Saint Joseph’s.
“I had a little cold and maybe some stress from finals and stuff,” said the 6-foot-11 Kaun, who had averaged 14.5 points and 8.2 boards his first six games, but saw his averages drop to 11.1 and 6.8.
“Some things were kind of stacking on top of each other. I’ve felt a lot better.”
A 69-56 victory over Cal nine days ago rejuvenated KU players and fans as the squad evened its record at 4-4.
“I thought we got a little more confidence, getting a good win against a good team. I think it’ll help us,” Kaun said.
On the heels of that Cal victory, KU now will face Pepperdine, Northern Colorado, New Orleans and Yale in successive games – teams with a combined 8-28 record.
Those games lead into a home showdown against Kentucky (7-3) on Jan. 7.
“Our goal is to win games regardless of records,” KU coach Bill Self said. “How many home games have these teams played? They’ve played some tough schedules. We played a tough schedule early. We need to play well against these teams we have at home. We have to hold serve at home. We have the opportunity to do that the next five games.”
Tonight’s foe has played tough competition. The Waves (2-6), who broke out of an offensive funk to topple Long Beach State, 92-86, Saturday in Malibu, Calif., lost to UConn at home and also fell at Dayton, Wisconsin and Colorado State.
“The more home games you play,” Self said, “the better the practice schedule is for you. This will be a great time for us to run together some hopefully very productive practice sessions, which we haven’t had consistently since we left to go to Maui.”
The Jayhawk players will head home for the holidays Friday, the day after the Northern Colorado game, and return the night of the 26th. They will practice without having to worry about classes until the start of second semester Jan. 20.
“I’m excited about the game,” senior Christian Moody said. “It will be fun to get back after a long week of finals and not playing at home for a while. It was a tough week. I was up for a couple of hours studying. It feels good to be done, though.”
Preparing for Pepperdine, in the final analysis, is a lot more fun than preparing for finals.
“No game is an easy game,” Moody said. “Pepperdine has a good team. We have to come out with an energy – one that we showed a little bit against Cal – if we’re looking to get better. That’s our goal. We want to get better everyday.
“Hopefully, we will and will show it in that game.”
