Self’s calming words in Garden? ‘Hey Spike (Lee) is going to be sitting right here’
For Kansas’ men’s basketball team, the site of the 2021 Champions Classic in some ways will be as significant as the traditionally tough foe the Jayhawks will be facing on Tuesday night.
“It’s a different thing,” KU coach Bill Self acknowledged. “The pressures are different. I’ve told them (players) a lot, ‘If you are struggling with me yelling at you now because of pressure or whatever, wait until Tuesday — first time to run out there. You are in the Garden. You’ve probably got some really famous people maybe sitting in the front row.”
Self was discussing Tuesday’s regular-season opener against Michigan State, set for a 6 p.m. Central Time start at New York’s tradition-rich Madison Square Garden.
“The stakes are high,” the coach said. “Michigan State is ultra-competitive. They are coming at your throat. It’s a different feel. I don’t know how we’ll react to it. I think our veteran guys, like State’s veteran guys, should be fairly well accustomed to it, even though in the first game, everybody’s a little bit extra juiced.”
The 2021-22 KU team figures to start a veteran lineup of Remy Martin, Dajuan Harris, Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun and David McCormack. The Jayhawks, who will be without Jalen Wilson (three-game suspension) also have eight new scholarship players who as of Sunday remain eligible to play in the Garden Tuesday.
“That’s a lot of newcomers,” Self said, indicating he had no news on possible redshirts at this time.
Any newcomers who enter the game could have some jitters playing in the Garden in the Big Apple.
“Once you get in the game, if the atmosphere is affecting the players I don’t know if there’s really much a coach can do, maybe call a time out, say, ‘Calm down, take a deep breath,’’’ Self said. “Before the game coaches can do some things maybe to make it where it’s not a surprise: ‘Hey Spike (Lee) is going to be sitting right here and this is who is going to be sitting next to him.’ That way they don’t go out there and are totally blown away by the atmosphere.”
Self noted that Tuesday’s experience in the Garden “will be a good atmosphere for a lot of reasons and we’re not going to deal with it directly but everybody does indirectly. One of the reasons for there to be enthusiasm obviously is it is the beginning of the last season for coach K (Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski).
“Of course you have Duke and Kentucky playing in that particular game (second game of twinbill to start about 8:30 p.m., Central time, both games on ESPN). That adds a lot of energy to it. I don’t know if I will do much to try to temper it (possible nerves) except talk about what I mentioned. All the guys playing in this need to learn how to adjust and play in this because it’s what we’ll be playing in in April (NCAAs).”
Self said he was happy the Jayhawks play in the first game of the doubleheader. The Jayhawks will fly home after the game.
“The early game is better,” he said. “We’ve played the late game half the time (in the 10 years of Champions Classic in which KU has won five games and lost five). When you are playing the late game, the first game runs long and the first game will run long. There will be more fouls called because it’s the first game of the season and officials are going to overly emphasize whatever the point of emphasis is. I’m not saying it’s wrong. That’s just what’s going to happen more than likely.
“First game goes OT, then the second game isn’t starting at 9 (Eastern) but it’s starting closer to 10. When you fly back the same night and it’s past midnight and you have an hour for media and an hour to get to the airport, another hour and a half or two hours before you can take off and land you get back here at 4 or 5 in the morning. The first game, even though it will be a late night it’s far better for us and State in that regard.”
KU has a home game on Friday against Tarleton State (7 p.m., Allen).
“I think we are as ready as can be. We are excited. A lot of guys are excited to get to the Garden and play,” said KU junior Christian Braun, who was part of a loss to Duke in 2019-20 in the Garden. “It’s super exciting. We’ll be juiced and ready to play.”
Coleman-Lands to be available
Self said senior shooting guard Jalen Coleman-Lands, who missed the team’s secret scrimmage at Tulsa and Wednesday’s exhibition against Emporia State because of a sore toe, “should be available to play” Tuesday against Michigan State unless he has any setbacks at coming practices.
“We hope so. He’s practiced the last two days. He’s not 100% though,” Self said of the transfer from Iowa State.
No redshirt news yet
Asked if there was redshirt news regarding any of his players, Self said: “No. Nothing concrete at all yet. You’ll know something if we do anything by Tuesday … promise.”
This story was originally published November 7, 2021 at 9:06 PM with the headline "Self’s calming words in Garden? ‘Hey Spike (Lee) is going to be sitting right here’."
