Ahead of No. 11 Kansas’ Saturday afternoon matchup with Utah, Jayhawk head coach Bill Self and guard Melvin Council Jr. sat down with the media to discuss the clash and review Kansas’ Monday win over No. 13 Texas Tech.
The Jayhawks were put on a short turnaround last weekend and will do the same this weekend. Fresh off a 90-82 win over then No. 13 BYU, Kansas travelled to Lubbock, Texas, and hung on for a 64-61 win over the Red Raiders.
“It felt short,” Council said when referencing the two-day turnaround. “I was talking to my mom, I’m looking at my apps and my tickets and I told her, the season’s gonna end soon.”
Council added, “I just want the season to keep going.”
This weekend, Kansas will host Utah before a second consecutive Big Monday matchup against No. 1 ranked Arizona. It will be the second of three Saturday-Monday turnarounds for the Jayhawks, the third of which will occur at the end of February when Kansas hosts Cincinnati (Feb. 21), and Houston (Feb. 23).
“Saturday-Monday games aren’t easy,” Self said. “A lot of it depends on who you’re playing, so we would be playing the No. 1 team in the country on one day prep.”
The matchup between Kansas and Utah on Saturday will be the fourth-ever meeting between the two and the first at Allen Fieldhouse. The Utes handed Kansas a loss in their first clash as conference foes last season, a 74-67 defeat at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
“This team is so different. Their team is so different. Everybody’s so different year to year,” Self said. “We won’t talk about revenge, but we will talk about how they handled us last year.”
Utah enters with the No. 11 scorer in the country on its roster, guard Terrence Brown. Brown and Utah will be the fourth top-15 scorer the Jayhawks have seen in conference play after matchups with AJ Dybantsa (BYU), PJ Haggerty (Kansas State) and JT Toppin (Texas Tech). Kansas is 3-0 in those matchups.
“Brown is a natural scorer,” Self said. “He can score off the catch and he’s got range, but he still drives the ball, and he’s got a good in-between game.”
Tipoff between the Jayhawks and Utes is set for 1:30 p.m., with the game set to be shown on Fox for fans who can’t make it live.
