Reno, Nev. ? David Padgett admits he was a bit jittery playing his first college basketball game in his hometown.

“I was a little more nervous than usual. I think I knew almost everyone here,” said Padgett, Kansas University’s 6-foot-11 Reno native, who went 1-for-8 from the field and scored three points with four rebounds in the Jayhawks’ 72-52 victory over UC Santa Barbara.

“I used 17 tickets and all my friends in high school came to the game,” he added, referring to the crowd of 8,610 at Lawlor Events Center. “I just struggled to get shots to fall.”

Padgett, who received a nice ovation during pregame introductions, missed four shots the first half and didn’t score until hitting a 15-footer with 5:21 left.

KU coach Bill Self was asked in his postgame press conference whether last year’s schedule makers should have waited until Padgett was a junior or senior to bring him to Reno.

“I don’t think it’s fair to David at all,” Self said. “It’s great we’re playing in Reno (but) we played TCU for Keith (Langford) in his junior year. To put a young man under pressure coming home seven games into his career, I don’t think it’s good for David. It’s a little unfortunate for him. He was probably a little tight tonight. He’ll probably be looser tomorrow (for 9:30 p.m. game against Nevada).”

Padgett was appreciative of support from the stands.

“It wasn’t like playing at Allen Fieldhouse, but it was nice people came out to watch us play,” he said.

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Milestone: Keith Langford, who scored 19 points, with a bucket in the second half became the 46th player in KU history to score 1,000 points.

“I’d rather have done it in Lawrence or Kemper,” Langford said. “But it’s obviously something I’m proud of. Only 46 people in so many years of Kansas basketball.”

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Quickie facts: Jeff Graves, who was suspended for the Oregon game, played four minutes and grabbed three rebounds … Simien’s 16 rebounds were a career high. He had 14 against Oregon this season … J.R. Giddens scored 15 points.

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Slash talk: Nevada’s Kirk Snyder was ranked 10th best “slasher” in the country this preseason by Athlon’s Magazine.

Meanwhile, Langford, who dazzled the nation in taking the ball to the rack for layups and dunks in last year’s NCAA Tournament, was nowhere to be found on the list of elite players.

Tonight, Snyder and Langford are matched head-to-head in a battle of athletic guards at Lawlor Events Center.

KU slams Gauchos Woodling: Jayhawks prove color doesn’t matter Turnovers costly for UCSB Padgett nervous See the photos: KU-UCSB photo gallery Hear Bill: KU-UCSB postgame comments Get the stats: KU-UCSB box scores Roster Schedule Notebook Live updates via cell phone

Tipoff for the KU-Nevada game is 9:30 p.m. Central time with a live telecast on channels 13, 38 (C15).

“I look forward to it, as a challenge,” said Langford, who scored 19 points in KU’s 20-point win over UC Santa Barbara in the first game of the Classic, which is not a tourney, but two-day, round-robin event. Alabama State plays UC Santa Barbara in tonight’s 7 p.m. opener.

“It’s an opportunity to play on a big stage and try to assert yourself against good competition,” Langford said.

Langford was asked if he had anything against Snyder, a 6-foot-6 junior from Upland, Calif., from who took a 17.0 scoring average into Saturday’s game against Alabama State.

“Heck no, it isn’t personal. I’ve never seen the dude (in person),” Langford said. “I just want to play against him because he’s a good player.”

Langford, by the way, was scheduled to play against five individuals on Athlon’s best slasher list this season.

KU already has defeated Oregon and Luke Jackson, who is No. 2 on the slasher list. Also, KU will play Missouri’s Ricky Paulding and Colorado’s Michel Morandais. Stanford’s Josh Childress, who is on the list, didn’t play because of injury when the Cardinal stopped KU, 64-58, Dec. 6 in Anaheim, Calif.