KU’s Bill Self on chunk of Big 12 games postponed by COVID: ‘How do you make them up’?
COVID-19 has disrupted the schedules of all 10 men’s basketball programs in the Big 12 Conference.
Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia, have all had games postponed. TCU’s program, in fact, has paused basketball related activities following coach Jamie Dixon’s announcement Monday that he is self isolating after testing positive for COVID-19.
TCU has three games (West Virginia, Texas Tech, Texas) needing to be rescheduled. The Horned Frogs’ next game was supposed to be Tuesday, Jan. 26, at Kansas but was moved Thursday, Jan. 28, a 7 p.m. tipoff on ESPN+.
“From what I’ve heard, and this is not anything to be etched in stone, the league would like to make up all games,” KU coach Bill Self said Tuesday night on his Hawk Talk radio show. KU’s last home game, originally set to be played against Iowa State last Saturday, was postponed and was rescheduled to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, also on ESPN+.
“How do you make them up with the limited schedule we have? Who knows? Maybe moving forward we’ll have three games in a week sometimes. I don’t know. To make games up you’ll have a lot of Thursday-Saturday type games. Who knows if it’ll ever come to that?” Self added.
Of next Tuesday’s scheduled home game versus the Horned Frogs, Self said: “We hope we’ll play TCU. We will not think about that. We have no control over that. The only thing we can control is our mindset. We play Oklahoma Saturday.”
The No. 9-ranked Jayhawks, 4-3 in league play and 10-4 overall following Monday’s 77-69 loss to Baylor in Waco, Texas, will meet OU at 11 a.m. Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma.
OU (8-4, 4-3) has rolled to back-to-back blowout victories — 76-50 Tuesday over Kansas State and 82-46 on Jan. 12 versus TCU. Last Saturday’s game against Oklahoma State was postponed because of a positive COVID-19 test at OSU.
“We labored to beat them the first time and they didn’t have Manek,” Self said of OU forward Brady Manek who missed the Sooners’ 63-59 loss to the Jayhawks on Jan. 9 at Allen Fieldhouse because of COVID-19 protocols. Reserve Jalen Hill also was out that day because of COVID-19 protocols. Both Manek and Hill returned for the K-State game.
“They guarded us well. We need to have the right mindset going to Norman,” Self added.
This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 10:29 AM with the headline "KU’s Bill Self on chunk of Big 12 games postponed by COVID: ‘How do you make them up’?."
