Vancouver, British Columbia ? Walk-on Stephen Vinson now knows what it’s like to be a starting point guard on Kansas University’s tradition-rich basketball team.

“I couldn’t get the smile off my face the whole game,” Vinson, KU’s junior guard out of Lawrence High, said after starting and contributing eight assists in the Jayhawks’ 101-46 rout of Langara College on Sunday at War Memorial Gym.

He was given the nod instead of Aaron Miles. Coach Bill Self rested his veterans, who played University College of Fraser Valley on Sunday night.

“It’s fun to get an opportunity to be on the floor,” said Vinson, who scored nine points and had four steals. “I feel blessed just to be on the team, but (when) you get an opportunity to play … it’s so much fun. It’s tougher than people know to finish out games. I felt being on the floor I was able to get in the flow. It was really exciting.”

Vinson was all over the court. He hit a driving left-handed layup in the first half and moved the ball effectively, pleasing Self.

“He will be a guy on call,” Self said. “Like a doctor … if we’re healthy and playing well, he won’t play as much. It’s a pretty loaded house (at guard). But if we need to play him, he’ll be ready. He’s the perfect guy to have on a team. He comes to work every single day.”

Stiff knee

KU junior Keith Langford, who is about 70-percent healthy as he continues to recover from offseason knee surgery, played 61/2 minutes to try to loosen up the knee. He missed his one shot try.

“He wanted to try to get his leg loose. He didn’t feel good. It stiffened up on him,” Self said.

Opponents enjoy experience

Langara College forward Vlad Ruzic said he had a great time Saturday, despite the final score.

Kansas University's Stephen Vinson, right, collects one of his three rebounds despite the presence of Langara College's Mirza Havic in the Jayhawks' 101-46 exhibition victory. Vinson, a walk-on from Lawrence, started and collected nine points and eight assists in Game One of KU's exhibition doubleheader on Sunday in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“What do I think of Kansas? Awesome,” said Ruzic, a 6-8 freshman who had five points and five rebounds for the school that has players compete for two years, then move on to larger colleges, like the U.S. junior-college system.

“To play a team like that will only help us. I had a lot of fun out there. What we tried to do was not look at the scoreboard and just play as hard as we could.

“It was an honor playing them. We came out of our locker room with our heads held high.”

Langara hit just 24.1 percent of its shots to KU’s 51.4 percent.

“They had two to three inches on every player. They played great defense, and we didn’t execute our offense very well,” Ruzic said.

Coach Simon Dykstra wasn’t surprised KU put on quite a show.

“Anytime you play Kansas,” he said, “you know it’s going to be tough. But it’s also a great experience. When we were asked to play the game, we knew we’d be playing one of the best and most prestigious programs in America.

“They gave us all we wanted. They are just so big. You try to front the post and ask guards to help out.”

KU actually could have won by more.

“I thought it was a class act of coach Self to take off the press,” Dykstra said. “Hopefully we did some things that can help them. We tried our best to take away some looks of their great athletes.”

Highlights

Vinson stole a pass early and fed Moulaye Niang, whose miss of a driving layup was tapped in by Alex Galindo. … Christian Moody hit Sasha Kaun for a layup off the high/low; Kaun completed the three-point play. … Moody cashed a three in each half. … KU had 25 assists to Langara’s seven.

Leisurely stroll

The Jayhawks spent their only real free time available on the trip walking down Granville Street on Saturday night in Vancouver. It’s much like Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, with stores and restaurants.

“It was fun to get out and be with my teammates,” Galindo said. “We walked around and came back to get ready for the games today.”