KU Jayhawks hope to take care of business vs. Harvard before heading home for holiday

What happens in Thursday night’s Kansas-Harvard men’s basketball game will go a long way toward determining the overall grade for the No. 4-ranked Jayhawks’ 2022-23 nonconference season.

So says KU coach Bill Self, whose Jayhawks (10-1) take a four-game winning streak into a 6 p.m. home game against the Ivy League’s Crimson. It will be shown live on ESPN2, and Harvard is off to an 8-4 start.

“I think if we could finish the ‘noncon’ — obviously excluding Kentucky in January (SEC/Big 12 Challenge, Jan. 28 in Lexington) — 11-1 with the schedule we have, I think that every one of our coaches who would have watched practice (on day one) would have said if we can get there, we’d take that and go to the house,” Self said Tuesday.

“I don’t want to say that (11-1) is the best we could ever hope for. You always hope for never losing. But the guys have done well to this point. Now there’s no guarantee we’ll win Thursday. (But) we’re in a pretty good place now mentally. I think they (KU players) should be OK and excited to play before they go home (for four-day holiday break).”

The Jayhawks will head to their hometowns or hometowns of friends Friday and return the morning of the 27th to begin preparation for KU’s Big 12 opener against Oklahoma State on New Year’s Eve at Allen Fieldhouse.

“We need to play well,” Self said, “because we’ve got nine more days off before we play again (against OSU). We should be excited.”

KU’s nonconference schedule has been highlighted thus far by wins over Duke (69-64) in the Champions Classic, North Carolina State (80-74) and Wisconsin (69-68, OT) in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. KU also beat Seton Hall (91-65), Missouri (95-87) and Indiana (84-62).

The Jayhawks’ only blemish thus far was an ugly 64-50 loss to Tennessee in Bahamas.

“Harvard is good. Tommy has a good team,” Self said of coach Tommy Amaker’s Crimson, a squad that won Tuesday at UC Irvine, 62-57.

The Crimson have also defeated Loyola Chicago (61-55) and dropped a close decision to UMass (71-68).

“We’ve been trying to play this game about three years now,” Self stated. “It was canceled because of COVID (December 29, 2021). Then we tried to schedule it again and got it done. We’re excited about playing.”

Harvard is led by Chris Ledlum, who averages 18.8 points and 7.8 rebounds a game. The 6-6 senior guard/forward from Brooklyn, New York has made 53.3% of his shots He’s made 13 of 47 three-point attempts (27.7%).

As a team, Harvard averages 67.8 points a game (while allowing 63.1) on 44.3% shooting. Harvard has made 70 of 245 threes for 27.3%.

“From a tactical and intellect and IQ standpoint I’d think players at Harvard would be pretty strong in that area,” Self said. “We have to make sure we come ready to play and play to our athletic ability.”

KU freshman Zuby Ejiofor said the Jayhawks will be ready to play their last game before Christmas break.

“I would say get this win then everybody goes home happy. That’s our main focus,” Ejiofor, a native of Garland, Texas said.

Self is hoping fans show up for the game despite potentially wintry conditions outside.

“We need to have a good crowd. We’ve positioned ourselves to have a really good preseason,” Self said of nonconference. “Of course the first season does not count near as much as the second (conference play), and second not as much as the third (the postseason).

“There are three seasons in a college basketball season. We positioned ourselves well to have a really good first season only if we take care of business Thursday.”