Amid questions on top of questions about Udoka Azubuike’s free throw shooting woes and what, if anything, can be done about them, Kansas basketball coach Bill Self on Thursday addressed an issue that might actually be more critical for this Kansas team.

Senior point guard Devonte’ Graham is in the middle of a stretch in which he has played all 40 minutes in three consecutive games.

Yes, Graham fouled out with 11 seconds remaining in Tuesday’s loss at Oklahoma, but it still goes down as 40 minutes in the official book — 40- to be exact — and the fact that the game was decided when he checked out means it was essentially the same as Graham playing the entire game.

He’s done that six times already this season, been stretched for 39 minutes on three other occasions and 38 minutes twice more.

For what it’s worth, Self said the plan against Oklahoma was to rest Graham whenever OU freshman Trae Young took a seat.

“And Trae never came out,” Self said. “He needs to get a rest, a little bit of a rest each half. But it’s hard to take him out, nor does he want to come out.”

The whole issue of finding a way to get Graham some real rest has lingered throughout the season, with no obvious options emerging to handle point guard duties in his absence.

So instead of sitting him when the lights are on, Self is going a different direction when it comes to keeping his best player as fresh as possible.

“He didn’t practice (Wednesday),” Self said. “He’s not practicing (Thursday). And we’ll go hard (Friday) and (play) Saturday and practice light Sunday, play Monday and he’ll be off next Tuesday and Wednesday.”

In short, Graham is spending nearly as much time taking days off as he is playing in games.

“This week we got him three days off,” Self said. “I don’t remember ever doing that with anybody. We know he’s got to play a lot. I think what we’re trying to do is just limit his exposure during practice a little bit more.”

So far the strategy of both playing Graham a ton of minutes and finding ways to rest him when they can has paid off for the senior point guard. Entering Saturday’s Big 12/SEC Challenge at 3:30 p.m. against Texas A&M at Allen Fieldhouse, Graham is averaging 18 points, seven assists and four rebounds per game.

Beyond that, his ability to play and compete at a high level from the opening tip to the final minute has inspired teammates to try to do the same and has many of them marveling about Graham’s conditioning.

“He’s doing a great job,” said senior sharpshooter Svi Mykhailiuk, who has played 676 minutes this season, second on the team behind Graham’s 726. “He’s been playing 40 minutes every game and he’s pretty strong mentally and physically. And I think most of the time it’s mental. You just have to make up your mind that you’re not tired and just put it in your head that you can do it. Your mind controls your body and you just have to tell your mind that you’re not tired.”

While Graham’s rest seems to have taken on the most importance for this team because he is one of two players for whom there is no obvious replacement — 7-foot center Udoka Azubuike is the other — getting some of his teammates a break from time to time has become more crucial as the season has moved along.

KU’s starting five, which includes Azubuike at 25.4 minutes per game and Malik Newman at 29.2, is averaging 31.5 minutes per game. As the season goes on KU’s games gain greater importance with each passing day, the need to keep everybody fresh grows with it. So that’s why Self gave several players a couple of days off this week.

And by a couple of days off, we’re talking not even requiring them to show up in the gym.

“I mean like totally off,” Self said. “We’ve got the guys that haven’t played much, they’re going to come in and shoot and run dry offense. But, no, we’re keeping the guys that are playing (off). Udoka, of course, we’ve got some stuff we’re going to work on. And Lagerald (Vick) needs to shoot some. But that’s it. Malik and Svi and Devonte’, (they didn’t do anything).”

And when they found out that news, they were more than a little appreciative, with Newman comparing it to his high school days when coach would say, “no practice tomorrow.”

“You kind of get that feeling of excitement,” he said, grinning. “Your body’s just giddy because of how much you’ve been playing and practicing. And it’s very important because we’re in conference play now. A lot of our games have been coming down to the last two minutes of the game and that’s when we need to be at our best. So a day off is everything we could ask for. It’s amazing.”

Asked if the time off could help his team avoid mental fatigue as much as anything, Self said that was one of the big advantages of doing it.

“I think we’ve been pretty good at that,” he said of staying mentally sharp. “I don’t know that there’s an exact science to it. I’m very cautious of fatigue setting in, but I’m not cautious of mental fatigue setting in yet, even though I know we’ll go through those grinds. (So we’re) trying to do as much as we can to take their mind off ball, trying to let them be a normal student and do things that normal students do. But at the same time trying to keep them off their feet as much as possible.”