Given the way Kansas opened last weekend’s early tipoff at Iowa State, which preceded a 15-point road loss to the Cyclones, it made sense for the Jayhawks to try something different at OU.
So, when they first took the floor, a little more than an hour before tipoff, they ran through 5-10 minutes of a close-out drill to get the juices flowing and wake up their bodies.
“Last time we played an early-morning game, it wasn’t in our favor and the big emphasis today was (on) whoever wakes up first,” freshman guard Ernest Udeh said after KU’s 78-55 win over the Sooners.
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PHOTO GALLERY: Kansas basketball at Oklahoma
Box score: Kansas 78, Oklahoma 55
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Kansas does not incorporate that into its pregame routine on most nights, but does use it for early tipoffs. Udeh said starting fast was the emphasis all week in practice, and even though the Jayhawks did not do that on the scoreboard or the offensive end, KU coach Bill Self said he was pleased with the way his team defended from the jump.
“Sometimes it’s the law of averages,” said Self, conceding that his team’s slow starts are not always an indicator that they weren’t ready to go at tipoff. “Sometimes they make a hard shot and you miss an open shot. But I do think there’s too much inconsistency with how we start games.”
Kansas was back to nine scholarship players in Saturday’s win at Oklahoma.
Zach Clemence (knee), Kyle Cuffe Jr. (knee), Cam Martin (shoulder) and Bobby Pettiford (hamstring) remained sidelined for the 9th-ranked Jayhawks, but freshman big man Zuby Ejiofor was back on the bench and in uniform.
Ejiofor had been out with a foot injury since the Kentucky game on Jan. 28. Although Ejiofor was available to play, he logged just 1:32 of game action on Saturday in mop-up time.
He finished with one rebound and one assist.
Self said Ejiofor practiced both Thursday and Friday and that, even though he was still working through his return, he had been “cleared to play.”
KU will host ESPN’s College GameDay for the second season in a row, when the college hoops pregame show comes to Lawrence for next weekend’s home game with Baylor.
Tipoff for that one is slated for 3 p.m.
It will mark the 11th time that the show has been broadcast from Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas is 8-2 in the previous 10 home GameDay appearances and 14-7 all-time when playing in a game featured on GameDay.
Earlier this season, KU won at Kentucky, which was the second of a two-city host arrangement on Jan. 28. Last season, KU hosted GameDay when UK came to town and the Wildcats left Lawrence with a convincing win that proved to be a turning point for KU’s run to the national title.
KU’s win on Saturday moved the Jayhawks to 20-5 overall, giving Kansas 20 or more victories for the 34th consecutive season. That stretch started in 1989 and is the longest active streak in NCAA Division I… KU now has won five in a row against the Sooners and leads the all-time series 156-69, including a 22-20 record inside Lloyd Noble Center… The Jayhawks are now 5-3 in true road games and 8-4 in games played outside of Allen Fieldhouse.
