Looking back, there’s nothing Jeff Carey would change about Senior Night 2002.

“It was incredible,” Carey, Kansas University’s senior forward from Camdenton, Mo., said of Wednesday night’s pregame flower shower, 103-68 rout of Kansas State and postgame speeches. “It was exactly what I’d hoped for.”

It was everything seniors Carey, Brett Ballard, Jeff Boschee, Lewis Harrison, Todd Kappelmann and Chris Zerbe could have envisioned.

“It’s a night I’ll never forget,” Kappelmann said of KU’s 19th straight Senior Night victory.

The night was so emotional  “I’m whipped,” KU coach Roy Williams said after his postgame news conference  the Jayhawks took a day off Thursday to regroup mentally for another Senior Day … Missouri’s.

KU will travel to Hearnes Center on Sunday for a 1:05 p.m. tip against Missouri and its lone senior, Clarence Gilbert.

MU has won four straight on its Senior Day, last falling to Texas Tech in 1997.

“It’s set up perfectly for them. They’ve got us coming in on their Senior Day. We’re coming in 15-0 in the league. It’s probably everything they want,” Williams said. “They’ll play well. What we have to do is match their ‘want-to,’ play with poise. Their crowd will be going crazy. It’s going to be a big day for them. I enjoy spoiling some people’s big day. Hopefully that’s what we’ll do.”

The Tigers would do well to copy KU’s victory formula on Senior Day.

KU’s all-senior lineup of Boschee, Ballard, Carey, Harrison and Zerbe played with great ferocity in rolling to a 7-0 lead the first 21*2 minutes. K-State committed five turnovers and didn’t attempt a shot in that span.

“I’m not surprised,” Carey said. “Last year at K-State, coach put us in and we went on a 5-0 run. We do that in practice every day. That’s one of the reasons the blue team (regular starting lineup) is so good. In practice, we get after it. I was just glad we could play like that in front of the fans.”

Carey and KU’s five other seniors  Kappelmann didn’t start but did play six minutes  capped the night with both humorous and somewhat poignant speeches in front of an adoring sellout crowd.

“I was not as nervous as I thought I’d be,” Carey said. “Lewis really put on a show. He was busting me up.”

Harrison cracked up his teammates and audience by saying: “You don’t have to worry. I promised my teammates I’d make this speech similar to my playing time.”

The walk-on from Kansas City Kansas Community College also drew laughs recalling his first practice as a Jayhawk.

“Everything is so structured and organized here. Coach Williams told us to be on the court at 4:02 (p.m.) In my family we have a tendency to be late. Coach has really taught me to be on time,” Harrison said, recalling some penalty laps for tardiness.

Carey, who will marry fiancee Mollie Hampton this summer, looked ahead to the real world.

“I want to own my own business,” Carey said. “Either a restaurant or a custom car shop. That’s not likely going to happen any time soon, but that’s exactly what I want to do.”

Or maybe a combination of the two?

“Yeah, it could be a theme restaurant,” Carey said. “You come in, watch someone work on cars and eat some burgers.”

That’s way down the line. He’s hoping the Jayhawks (26-2, 15-0 Big 12) can on Sunday cap the school’s first undefeated conference season since 1970-71.

“We’ve still got a great game on Sunday coming up,” Carey said. “We’ve got a lot of stuff to do. It feels kind of like some of the season is over, but there’s still a lot happening.

“To win the (Big 12) tournament championship, and then our goals are as big as they can be,” Carey added. “To get to the Final Four and win a championship, there’s no question that’s our goal. There’s no reason to aim any lower than that. Life sometimes throws you a curveball, but that’s a long way down the road. We can’t really focus on that yet. We still have a lot to do between now and then.”