Bill Self did not treat Kansas’ 95-65 win over Fordham as a finished product. On Thursday, he said the next step is to keep getting better when Middle Tennessee comes to Allen Fieldhouse on Friday night at 8 p.m.
That is why the matchup matters now. Kansas is coming off a season-opening victory, but Self made clear he wants a sharper team against an opponent that can score the ball. He said the Jayhawks need to defend and rebound, and he wants them to stop letting opponents get so comfortable.
For Kansas, this is also the first real chance to sort out how the rotation settles. Self has said he sees numerous possible options and would like to use around 10 players, though he believes seven or eight usually separate themselves. The opener offered a first look at that structure: Melvin Council Jr., Taylen Kinney, Tyran Stokes and Tre White started, Christian Reeves opened at center, and Trey Kaufman-Renn took Reeves’ place in the second half. Leroy Blyden Jr. and Keanu Dawes came off the bench, while Dennis Parker Jr., Trent Perry and Luke Barnett were the deeper-rotation pieces who got minutes against Fordham.
The part Self called a major concern was less about who played and more about how Kansas played. Fordham scored 65 points and Kansas made only 16 of 30 free throws, a 53.3% clip that left little room for comfort even in a 30-point win. Self wants the team to keep building on what it is gaining, and he said improvement will come incrementally rather than overnight.
Middle Tennessee arrives with its own early-season markers. It beat Fisk University 117-73 on Monday, and Jahvin Carter was central to that start with 16 points and seven assists. He is the only one of Middle Tennessee’s top seven players in minutes per game last season who is still on the roster, which makes the Friday game a test of how quickly that group can settle in around him.
The matchup is also a useful measure of where Kansas stands against a program that has earned attention before. Middle Tennessee was picked fifth in the Conference USA preseason poll after going 17-15 overall and 11-9 in league play last season, and Kansas has won all three previous meetings between the schools. But this is the first time Self will coach against Middle Tennessee, and the way Kansas handles the game may say more than the final score does. If the defense tightens, the rebounding improves and the rotation starts to narrow, Friday night will look less like an early-season exam and more like a step forward.
