The Kansas Jayhawks face Townson Tuesday in Lawrence. It's yet another tune-up before beginning Big 12 conference play next month
Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self viewed the recent win against the North Carolina State Wolfpack from two sides.
It wasn't exactly a pretty win but at least it was a win. While the Jayhawks have a few weeks before beginning Big 12 conference play, Self knows his team has to reach another level once the second half of the season begins.
"From a fan perspective, which I'm not, I would think it would be a pretty entertaining game to watch," Self said of the NC State win. "Not a lot of turnovers, and certainly not a lot of fouls. I would think it'd be a fairly entertaining game to watch because there weren't that many stoppages. I thought that neither team played great. I didn't think we did at all, and their switches really bothered us, and we didn't have ball and body movement the whole night. But we did compete."
The Jayhawks have another tune-up Tuesday against at home against Townson. They have struggled while getting acclimated to playing so much without star freshman Darry Peterson. An early-season hamstring injury has kept him out of most games but he is slowing regaining full health. Peterson is expected to be a top five pick in the NBA draft next June.
Despite the adversity, Self is pleased with how the team has won games while not playing particularly well. After tonight's game, the Jayhawks play once more before facing the UCF Knights Jan. 3 in the conference opener.
"It's good. It's getting old not playing great, though," coach Self said. "It's great. Guys competed. They tried hard. That was actually fun to watch. We didn't execute as well as we did against Tennessee but it was kind of like that game a little bit where guys just have to tough it out."
Here's the game preview:
Time: Tuesday, Dec. 16 Tipoff at 8 p.m. CST
Where: Allen Fieldhouse
TV/Streaming: ESPN2
Betting Line: Kansas -18.5
Vitals: No. 17 Kansas men’s basketball (8-3) hosts Towson (6-4) for a Tuesday night Allen Fieldhouse showdown. The Jayhawks are fresh off a huge road overtime win over NC State on Saturday. Darryn Peterson’s status is uncertain due to cramping.
Projected Starting Five:
Kansas:
Darryn Peterson (Bill Self Said Peterson is “day-to-day” with cramping issues)
Flory Bidunga
Bryson Tiller
Melvin Council Jr.
Tre White
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of JayhawksRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com