KU Jayhawks’ acting head coach Norm Roberts knows what it feels like to miss a game

Kansas assistant men’s basketball coach Norm Roberts knows how head coach Bill Self must have felt Monday night in watching the Jayhawks’ 89-64 home victory over Omaha — not from Allen Fieldhouse but from the comforts of Self’s own TV room in his West Lawrence abode.

“The one game I missed last year when I had Covid and was out and had to stay at home, my wife wanted to kill me because I was down in my basement. I could not stop screaming and yelling. I would imagine there was some of that going on,” Roberts said Wednesday at a news conference held in advance of Thursday’s 7 p.m. home game against North Dakota State.

Roberts missed last year’s 62-61 victory over Iowa State on Jan. 11, 2022 at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I was going crazy, bananas, because I had the scout that game,” Roberts said. “That’s the game Dajuan (Harris) hit the layup (to win with seven seconds to play).”

Self — he’s been suspended the first four games of the regular-season as part of self-imposed penalties regarding the NCAA’s three-year investigation into KU hoops — at least didn’t have to sweat the KU-Omaha outcome in crunch time.

Up by just seven points five minutes into the second half, KU used a 10-0 run to bust open the game.

“To be honest with you, he was pretty calm,” Roberts said of his first contact with Self at the office Tuesday morning. “I know he wasn’t very calm watching it on TV. … I guess the feed for ESPN (actually ESPN+) kept going in and out. Maybe that gave him time to calm down when he was watching.

“In the morning he said, ‘Hey good job guys. We did well, but we’ve got a lot more to do. We’ve got to get a lot better.’’’

Roberts said it’s a good thing the self-imposed penalties prohibit Roberts and Self from speaking until after midnight on game day.

“We can’t talk until the next day — after 12 midnight we can talk. I’ll be honest with you, after 12 midnight I was dead asleep. I know he (Self) was probably asleep by about 10:30 (p.m.),” Roberts said.

Even though Roberts is familiar with being a head coach — he was head coach at Queens College from 1992-95 and St. John’s from 2005-10 — his return to the bench made Monday an exhausting day.

“Anxious, … I was anxious to start the game off,” Roberts said. “Once you get into the game you are into the game. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it. Obviously our fans are great. They make us always feel good. Our guys played well in spurts. We did some really good things the other night.”

KU on Thursday will play a North Dakota State team that opened with a 76-58 loss to Arkansas on Monday in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Bison, who lost to KU by just four points, 65-61, two seasons ago, have a pair of effective big men in Grant Nelson (6-11, 235 junior) and Andrew Morgan (6-10, 245 sophomore). Nelson had 17 points and six rebounds vs. Arkansas while Morgan had seven rebounds and seven points.

“They may be better than any big guys we play in our league. They are that good,” Roberts said.

Roberts said Self hadn’t decided on the fifth starter yet. It’s expected Dajuan Harris, Jalen Wilson, Kevin McCullar and Gradey Dick have locked up spots at this time. KJ Adams was the fifth starter vs. Omaha; Ernest Udeh started vs. Pittsburg State in the Jayhawks’ exhibition.

“I don’t know if we settled on it. There’s different scenarios out there how we’ve got to play,” Roberts said. “I know coach is this way: ... We’re not getting caught up with starters. We probably have six, maybe even seven starters. We’re not worried about about that. We’re getting caught up in the best lineup we can put out there to give us the best chance to get off to a good start.”

Roberts also said the junior point guard Harris, who tweaked his ankle against Omaha, “is fine.”

“Juan is a battler,” Roberts said. “He maybe tweaked something quick. He didn’t want to come out of the game, there’s no doubt about that. We need Juan to push the pace. J-Will (Jalen Wilson) does a great job of that. Coach talked about that yesterday. We need to get in transition even more. Juan needs to spearhead that along with J-Will.”