Men’s basketball briefs

KU aide Jankovich mum about opening

Kansas University assistant basketball coach Tim Jankovich found himself surrounded by a batch of reporters and camera-toters after the Jayhawks’ 80-67 victory over Kansas State on Friday at Kemper Arena.

Media didn’t ask him about his alma mater dropping its 31st straight game to KU. Instead, he was quizzed about the fact Matt Doherty had dropped out of the running for the Tulsa head-coaching vacancy, leaving Jankovich the rumored front-runner for the job.

“I haven’t heard one thing,” Jankovich said. “Coach (Bill Self) has a policy where assistants don’t talk about head-coaching jobs. It’s coach’s policy. It’s what coach believes in. It’s a distraction. I don’t think I can say anything.”

He was asked by a Tulsa TV type if he had been offered the job.

“I can’t say a word,” Jankovich said, “otherwise I violate my boss’ wishes.”

Tulsa interim head coach Pooh Williamson reportedly had his third interview for the job Friday.

Jankovich, who one publication said was a leading candidate along with Doherty, has been interviewed, along with OU assistant Bob Hoffman, Michigan State assistant Doug Wojcik and Texas assistant Rodney Terry.

Big trey

Kansas University’s J.R. Giddens, who has been struggling from three-point range lately, hit a big trey that upped a 60-57 lead to six points at 5:42.

“With Keith (Langford) out, everybody had to step up,” said Giddens, who hit three of 11 threes and scored 14 points. “We got the jitters out of the way tonight. We got a feel playing without Mr. Langford today. Now we have to come out and take care of business tomorrow, too.”

Giddens said his three-point form was off Friday.

“I had too much adrenaline on a couple,” he said. “The last few I followed through too hard. I said, ‘Please don’t be airballs.’ I felt bouncy today. I was 3-for-11 today; I promise I’ll shoot better the next game.”

Streakin’

KU stretched its win streak over KSU to 31 games.

“I don’t feel a ton of pressure with it (streak), although losing to Missouri and K-State back to back wouldn’t sit well with a lot of folks I know pretty well. So I knew we had to play well,” Self said. “But it wasn’t to keep that streak going. It was to play to get better and set us up better for next week to be quite honest.”

Self said he felt KU still could land a No. 1 seed if it won today against Oklahoma State.

Minutes

Alex Galindo scored five points in 13 minutes playing power forward. Sasha Kaun played just two minutes, while Darnell Jackson and C.J. Giles did not play.

“With Keith being out,” Self said, “we need some offense and at least potential offense, and he (Galindo) is the best offensive player. He has a knack for getting the ball in the basket. We give up some things, rebounding and had to play zone with Alex in the game, but we thought that was better.

“The reason the other big guys didn’t play didn’t have anything to do with other than the fact they played small with Cartier (Martin) at the 4. Alex is better at the zone.”

Hawkins excels

Jeff Hawkins had eight points and three assists in 19 minutes. He played seven minutes the second half.

“Jeff played well again tonight,” Self said. “Maybe we should have played him more the second half and rested Aaron (Miles) or whatever, but I’m real pleased with Jeff. I think he has become a very good player, and I think will have a huge senior, a big, big senior year.”

Recruiting

Jeremiah Rivers, a 6-foot-4 high school junior from Florida, told rivals.com he would make an official recruiting trip to Kansas in the coming weeks.

Rivers, the son of former NBA great Doc Rivers, has a list of KU, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Notre Dame.