St. Louis ? Jeff Boschee has never been known as a high flyer.

But Kansas University coach Roy Williams certainly wasn’t impressed with the senior shooting guard’s vertical leap after Wednesday’s practice at Edward Jones Dome.

“He was not very good jumping off it,” Williams said of Boschee’s injured left ankle. “We’ll get him some treatment and see how he feels tomorrow.”

Williams said he expected the 6-foot-1 starter to play in tonight’s NCAA Tournament first-round game against Holy Cross.

Boschee left no doubts about his status.

“I’ll play,” he said.

How well Boschee will play is uncertain.

The guard injured his ankle during practice Tuesday when he landed on the foot of teammate Jeff Hawkins.

“I’ve been prone to turning an ankle every once in a while, but this one seems worse,” he said. “It hurt badly yesterday and swelled up today.”

Boschee said the ankle swelled during Tuesday night’s plane ride to St. Louis.

“This afternoon it was better than I thought it would be,” he said Wednesday. “It is getting better. It was hard to walk this morning. At the shootaround this morning it got warmed up.”

KU trainers used electric stimulus and ice multiple times Wednesday in an attempt to speed the healing process.

“I couldn’t put a lot of pressure on it,” said Boschee, who had a hard time making cuts during Wednesday’s practice. “It does hurt every once in a while. With another day’s rest and treatment, I think it will be fine.”

Healthy ankle or not, Boschee will be trying to break out of a two-game slump. After scoring 21 points against Colorado in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals, he scored three points on 1-of-5 shooting during the semifinals against Texas Tech and put up identical statistics in the championship game loss to Oklahoma.

“Oklahoma didn’t allow me to get very many open looks,” said Boschee, who has made 2-of-8 three-point shots in the last two games. “You have to credit their defense for making me miss the shots that I did take. The further you get in a tournament, the stronger the defenses are going to be. You have to be able to make shots and be tough enough to step up.”