Norman, Okla. ? J.R. Giddens, who was born and reared 25 miles from the University of Oklahoma campus, knows he won’t receive a hometown hero’s welcome tonight at Noble Center.

In fact, Giddens, Kansas University’s 6-foot-5 sophomore guard, who led Oklahoma City’s John Marshall High to a Class 5A state title victory over Ardmore in March 2003 at Noble, figures to hear the obligatory chants of “traitor, traitor” during a Big 12 Conference battle between KU and OU.

Tipoff is 8 p.m., with a live telecast on ESPN (Sunflower Broadband Channel 33).

“Some people do, some people don’t, but, I mean, who cares?” Giddens said, asked if people in his home state approved of his attending Kansas.

“I’m here, oh well,” Giddens added with a shrug.

Giddens, who takes a 10.7-point scoring average into tonight’s game, but is coming off perhaps his worst game as a Jayhawk (1-of-11 three-point shooting in Saturday’s loss to Iowa State), won’t have his feelings hurt if he is taunted during warmups tonight.

He’s used to it.

“Fans all have signs. They bring Wal-Mart bags that say, ‘Giddens rolls back prices.’ That stuff is hilarious,” said Giddens, who was involved in an incident at a Wal-Mart his senior year of high school.

“I laugh. I’m not mad. They’re doing their job. I like to play on the road. If you win, you look in the stands and give a little grin.”

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He knows first hand it’ll be tough for Kansas to win tonight.

“I’ve seen it’s a hostile environment,” said Giddens, who said he had attended “five or six games in Lloyd Noble.”

“I was there when Kansas was down like 33 points my junior year or senior year. Man, I know how hard it is to go there and play.”

He sat behind KU’s bench Feb. 23, 2003, when the Jayhawks actually trailed by 32 points before slicing the gap to five with :22 left in KU’s 77-70 loss to the Sooners.

“We’ve got to go there and put the blinders on, have a tight huddle and get things done,” Giddens said of tonight’s contest against a 19-6 OU team coming off an emotional high.

Drew Lavender took the ball coast to coast and hit a layup at the buzzer to give the Sooners a 69-68 victory Saturday at Kansas State.

KU has two other Oklahomans on the roster — Jeremy Case, a sophomore red-shirt guard from McAlester, and Darnell Jackson, a freshman forward from Oklahoma City, who played his senior season in Midwest City.

“Going home, it’s going to be nice,” Jackson said. “Getting to see everybody, my friends and family will really be nice.”

Like Giddens, Jackson figures to have 20 or more friends and family in the stands tonight.

“I’ve been there a lot,” Jackson said of Noble Center. “I can’t remember a number, but it’s been over 20 times. When I was younger, I used to go over there and watch Oklahoma play a lot. My uncle wanted me to go to OU. I was thinking about going there for football.”

But Jackson gave up football his junior year of high school, and, once he became a major-college hoops recruit, pretty much had his eyes set on KU, where he could join best buddy Giddens.

“I followed OU football. Roy Williams, of the Cowboys, he’s really nice,” Jackson said of the ex-OU receiver.

Jackson said he’d like nothing better than to win tonight in front of so many family members and buddies.

“Playing against everybody in high school … my friends, now that I’ve graduated I’ve not been able to see them. I get a chance to go home and see them and say, ‘What’s up?”’ Jackson said. “Going home is fun.”

Jackson’s rookie season has had its ups and downs, but he has no regrets.

“I’ve never been depressed at all, just got to wait my turn,” Jackson said. “When I get in the game, I have to go out there and do what I have to do to help this team win.”

As for Giddens, he’s going to have to fare better than Saturday if KU hopes to halt a two-game losing streak.

“The biggest thing, he has to make shots,” KU coach Bill Self said. “If a team plays zone, we’ve got to have guys step up and make some shots.

“No offense will look good if you can’t stretch a defense at all.

“J.R. is a lot like most players,” Self added. “When something bad happens, it can sometimes rattle confidence. If you’ve noticed, J.R. can have two bad plays in a row. Sometimes bad things happen, and he gets tentative. When he gets tentative, he gets careless. He just has to go out and play.”