Norm Roberts updates MJ Rice's availability, more ahead of KU vs. Southern Utah
Jordan Guskey
LAWRENCE — Kansas men’s basketball’s 2022-23 regular season will continue Friday when the Jayhawks face Southern Utah at home.
No. 5 Kansas, set to tip off at 7 p.m., is 3-0 this season after a win earlier this week against No. 8 Duke. Jayhawks assistant coach Norm Roberts will serve as the interim head coach for the fourth and final time, with the self-imposed suspensions for head coach Bill Self and assistant coach Kurtis Townsend ending after this contest. This will be Kansas’ last game before it heads to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
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Here are three things to think about ahead of the Jayhawks’ matchup with the Thunderbirds (3-1):
Kansas could be shorthanded again
Against Duke, Kansas only had nine scholarship players available considering sophomore forward Zach Clemence was out with his nose injury, freshman guard MJ Rice was out with an illness and both super-senior forward Cam Martin and redshirt freshman guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. are dealing with longer-term injuries. And when Roberts spoke with reports Thursday afternoon, he didn’t know if the Jayhawks would have just nine available for a second-straight game. He just expressed hope they would have more.
Clemence and Rice did not travel to Indianapolis for the Champions Classic game against Duke, but Roberts explained Clemence didn’t just because they thought it would be better if he rested at home and not because the injury prohibited travel. Roberts did expect Rice to be back at practice Thursday. And Roberts said he was excited to have Rice back.
Ernest Udeh Jr. is confident the injuries aren't significantly affecting practice
Freshman center Ernest Udeh Jr. said even though Kansas is limited in who it’s had available, what they’re looking to accomplish in practice hasn’t changed. He praised what the scout team has been able to accomplish. And he took some confidence from the fact the Jayhawks still topped the Blue Devils this week despite having as many players out as Kansas did.
“I feel like that’s just a testament to how hard we work in practice,” Udeh said. “Even if we came into that game with five guys, we still wouldn’t lay down. We would finish that game ’til the end, no matter what the case may be. And I just feel like we’re really resilient, no matter if we have five guys, 10 guys, 12 guys. We’re going to play the way we play all the time.”
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Here’s what Southern Utah brings to the matchup
Roberts described Southern Utah as a versatile opponent that’s going to take a lot of 3s. He said the Thunderbirds can play either big or small, because of who’s available at the 5-spot. And he expects to see a lot of guys play, considering there are as many players averaging double-digit minutes for Southern Utah as there are.
So far this season, the Thunderbirds are averaging 32 three-point shots attempted per game and overall have hit 36.7% of them. Not everyone on their roster has played in all four of their games, but most have and there are 12 overall averaging more than 10 minutes per game. The highest total for minutes per game is 23.7, from a senior guard in Tevian Jones who has started the three games he’s played and leads the team in scoring but didn't play in its most recent game.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.