No. 3 seed Kansas opens Big 12 Tournament play Thursday night against No. 6 seed TCU in the quarterfinals at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. CST in just about two hours, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Aside from the fact that tonight's game is postseason play, another thing will be different: the playing surface. The Big 12 Tournament is being played on a glass LED court rather than on a regular hardwood court. Kansas head coach Bill Self talked about how the Kansas women's basketball team helped the men prepare to play on the new surface.
"Brandon actually helped us with that," Self said this week. "He said if he was me he’d get over there early because it’s a little bit different. I talked to the brass in the Big 12 office and they thought it was a good idea too."
The Jayhawks got to do their regular shootaround on the court but are slightly behind their opponent, TCU, who played and won a game on it last night.
"The floor was fine, but it did seem a little different from a traction standpoint compared to the majority of the courts in our league," Self said.
There have been mixed reviews of the floor this week during the tournament, but the Jayhawks will play on it for the first time tonight against the Horned Frogs.
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