Busy coaching for the better part of the past two decades, Pitt State coach Jeff Boschee has not had many opportunities to watch basketball at the venue he played it in during his college career at Kansas from 1998-2002.
However, Thursday night, when the Gorillas come to Allen Fieldhouse for an exhibition game with the fifth-ranked Jayhawks, Boschee will have one of the best seats in the house.
Just starting his first year at Pitt State after a successful 12-year run at Missouri Southern State and in the high school ranks before that, Boschee, 42, said he was looking forward to returning to the place he called home when he helped Kansas win 106 games during his four-year career.
It will mark his first time coaching at Allen Fieldhouse and his first time at KU’s home venue for a game since 2012.
“I think it’s just excitement,” Boschee told the Journal-World in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. “Just to get to experience that crowd and walk out to the court and see all those people and hear the crowd and the band and all that. As a coach, it’ll obviously be a little bit different. I might be able to take it in a little bit more. As a player, I think you kind of take it for granted a little bit when you’re in it. When you’re out, you kind of take a step back and you get to see the clear picture or really how great it is.”
Scot McClurg/Journal-World PhotoWhile excitement is the most prominent emotion Boschee said he felt leading up to his return, he also added that anticipation and nervousness were not far behind.
The Gorillas were picked to finish tied for 10th in the 14-team MIAA preseason poll in early October. In addition to coaching his first official game with the program after taking over as the 16th head coach in Pitt State history, Boschee is still trying to install his system and put his stamp on the program that finished 8-20 overall last season and 7-15 in conference play.
In addition to adding a new head coach, the Gorillas in the offseason brought in 11 new players to go along with five returners, two of whom Boschee said likely would play big minutes this season.
Beyond that, PSU lost its third-leading scorer from a season ago in June, when Australian-born forward Cameron Huefner, who averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds in 24 starts last season, elected to transfer for Division I Sam Houston State for the 2022-23 season.
That left the Gorillas with a fairly small lineup but one that Boschee seems excited about.
J-W File Photo“That hurt us a little bit as far as size,” he said. “But I like our team. We’ve got some really athletic guards; we’ve got some bigger guards, which does help.”
His message to his players about Thursday’s challenge was simple.
“The biggest thing I told our guys is we just have to make sure we compete,” he said. “And if we compete, whatever happens happens. But we need to make sure we get better from this.”
Stylistically, Boschee believes his first Pitt State team will play a lot like you might expect from a group coached by KU’s all-time leader in 3-point makes (338) and 3-point attempts (843).
“We do try to shoot a lot of 3s,” Boschee said Tuesday. “Obviously, we try to take as many good shots as possible, but with not having a lot of size we definitely want to shoot a lot of 3s. But we don’t want to shoot all 3s. We still want to get the ball in the post and have that balance and get paint touches and all that.”
Boschee left Kansas in the top 20 on the program’s all-time scoring list, with 1,560 career points. His 338 3-point makes put him 42 triples ahead of Devonte’ Graham on KU’s all-time list and fourth all-time in the history of the Big 12 Conference.
The first-year Pitt State coach said he was not aware that the Gorillas were due to play Kansas this season when he accepted the job in March, and his return was supposed to be a reunion for him and former Missouri Southern State All-American Cam Martin, who is a super-senior on the Kansas roster.
The two no doubt will still catch up before and after Thursday’s game, but it won’t be a case of former coach facing former player. Martin is out for at least the next few weeks with a separated right shoulder he suffered last week at practice and will not play on Thursday.
“I talked to him Monday a little bit and talked to his dad,” Boschee said of Martin. “His dad said they had a pretty good first meeting with the docs. He seemed in good spirits, but that’s tough, man. I thought he had a chance to make an impact a little bit and get some playing time and now he gets thrown this.”
KU, of course, still has plenty of firepower without Martin in the lineup. And Boschee said that was crystal clear from what he saw on tape from the Jayhawks’ recent scrimmage against Illinois.
“They’re big, long and athletic,” Boschee said of the Jayhawks. “And Bill’s always going to have those guys ready to go on the defensive end. As much as he downplays his team defensively, they’re always really good and they’re always really tough, and that’s what makes them really special.”
In his mind, one of the biggest keys in just how good this Kansas team can be is how quickly their young big men progress.
“How fast they grow up and understand the level of play they’re at will be important,” Boschee said. “The quicker the better, of course, and if they can do that, I think they’ll have a chance to be pretty darn good again.”
Kansas leads the all-time series with Pitt State 13-0, including a 9-0 mark in exhibition games.
Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on Big 12 Now via ESPN+.
“I haven’t been back much and I’ve never coached there,” Boschee said Tuesday. “So, it’s pretty cool that my first year at Pitt State, I get to go back there and coach at Kansas. I’m definitely excited to get to experience that.”
