With schedule uncertain, Jayhawks’ Mitch Lightfoot eager to play Nevada on Wednesday
Barring a last-minute cancellation, Kansas’ No. 6-ranked men’s basketball team will play its first game in 11 days on Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
“Yeah, yeah, (we’ve) got to play,” KU senior forward Mitch Lightfoot said Tuesday, when asked if the 9-1 Jayhawks “need” a game at this juncture.
“Conference season is almost here. Conference season is coming. There’s no doubt about that. We’ve got to be ready for that. These games will help us get ready for that,” Lightfoot said.
The Jayhawks’ schedule has been in flux lately because of other teams’ COVID issues. But they’re hoping to play not one but two nonconference games at home before Tuesday’s Big 12 opener at Oklahoma State.
First up is Nevada. The Wolf Pack (6-4) of the Mountain West Conference on Monday agreed to play the Jayhawks at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse. Nevada is filling in for Harvard, which had to cancel its game against KU because of COVID concerns.
KU coach Bill Self revealed on Tuesday that the Jayhawks will likely play a yet-to-be-determined nonconference team Saturday to make up for last Tuesday’s cancellation at Colorado. KU was to have played TCU this coming Saturday, but the Horned Frogs had to postpone the game because of COVID in their program. (At this point, the plan is for that game to eventually be made up.)
“I think we’ll play Saturday. I don’t know that for a fact. We’re working on it,” Self said of locating an opponent.
Asked about the urgency to play two games before the start of the conference season, Self said: “I don’t know that it (cancellation of the CU game and the four-day Christmas break) has hurt our progress. We probably have worried more about ourselves, which probably should help our progress because we haven’t known who we are going to play. Maybe that helps a little bit.
“As far as not playing the Colorado game, we needed to play a road game that was hard, where we have to grind, have the crowd involved and have to take the crowd out of the game and that kind of stuff. We haven’t had that yet.
“St. John’s … we didn’t have that situation,” Self added of playing in a hostile setting. The Jayhawks kept the crowd out of that game by rolling 95-75 on Dec. 3 in Elmont, New York.
“The next road game we play will be our first really true road game and I was hoping we’d get one in before league play,” Self said. “That’s not going to happen. That may have hurt some. I don’t know. I don’t think it’s been a deterrent.”
The Jayhawks have been practicing since Sunday night, when the squad’s 18 players returned from a four-day break.
“Knock on wood, we’ve been good. Everybody has practiced,” Self said. “That can change overnight, obviously. But we’ve been good.”
He said the Jayhawks’ players and coaches are tested for COVID only when they are symptomatic.
“If you have symptoms, you test,” Self said.
The coach said he does not foresee cancellation of Tuesday’s league opener at Oklahoma State, but the Cowboys had to postpone Saturday’s game against Texas Tech because of COVID issues.
“That goes back far enough that shouldn’t impact the game at all,” Self said. “We could impact the second game. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Self is confident that all Big 12 teams will be able to play a full slate of 18 conference games this season. KU, Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Iowa State were the only Big 12 teams to play 18 games a year ago.
“I think it’s still realistic,” he said. “I think that rolling with it, playing three games in a week (if required in order to make up games) … I don’t think coaches will look at it as much as an advantage/disadvantage as they will, ‘We just need to get the games in.’
“It seems like last year there was too much jockeying for position — ‘Well, we are not healthy, we don’t want to play.’ I don’t think there’s going to be that this year. I think if you can put a team out there, I think people will put a team out there.”
The Big 12 office says teams must have at least one healthy coach and six healthy players to play a game.
“The way this thing is going,” Self said, “I just don’t see there will be very many opportunities where you can’t get six healthy guys. Seven guys on the team will have already had it (COVID). If you have to test everybody, you’ll have seven guys test negative. I still think you are going to be able to get your games in.”
Self said the reason the situation now is magnified is for “one reason. Everybody went home (for Christmas break) and many people brought stuff back with them from when they went home. (It’s) totally understandable. It’s happened all across America, everywhere.
“Maybe it’s good to knock it out now,” he said. “I do believe there will be one or two weeks where everybody plays three games (during the Big 12 season). The way protocols are going to be now, it seems if you miss games you’ll want to do everything to make them up.”
Self said playing a full 18-game season is important for many reasons.
“From a monetary standpoint with the athletic department, giving up home games and reimbursing, or whatever you do — hopefully we won’t have to do that,” he said. “Giving up home games could be a pretty significant loss. I think everybody is going to want to get the games in.”
Which brings us back to Wednesday night. Like his teammate Lightfoot, KU senior Ochai Agbaji wants to play ball, not practice.
“In practice you can only tell so much about how your team is doing,” Agbaji said, “and how your guys jell together and play against other opponents. Going into this game tomorrow, it’s like I always keep saying, ‘It’s another chance to get better before conference.’
“We’re thankful to be in the moment and practicing not isolating, being fortunate enough to play and have games scheduled.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 4:18 PM with the headline "With schedule uncertain, Jayhawks’ Mitch Lightfoot eager to play Nevada on Wednesday."
