KU’s Hawkins OK after run-in

Lee unfazed by practice collision; Jayhawks loose

? In an instant, many of the fans at the Ford Center whipped their attention toward midcourt during Kansas University’s open basketball practice Thursday after hearing a blood-curdling scream and seeing a KU player drop to the floor in pain out of the corner of their eyes.

It was Jeff Hawkins, who ran into teammate Michael Lee … and lost. Lee, a 6-foot-3, 215-pounder, was unfazed, but Hawkins — all 180 pounds of him — didn’t get up for a couple of minutes.

Hawkins is OK, though, and managed to laugh about it afterward.

“I tried to dodge him, but he got me with a knee — a charley horse,” he said. “I’ll be all right.

“That,” Hawkins added, “is why he should go out for football.”

Hawkins’ side might be a little sore, but it won’t stop him today when KU takes on Bucknell at 8:50 p.m. The crash did provide a little drama in a 40-minute open practice, which was nothing more than a light workout wrapped up by a crowd-pleasing display of dunking by a few Jayhawks.

“It was just a real dumb collision,” Lee said with a grin. “I saw him coming, and I tried to avoid him, and I threw the ball the opposite way, but I stuck my knee out, and Hawk happened to have his hip in front of my knee.

“I guess it has to be my fault. They look at the guy who’s not hurt and say, ‘Why did you do it?'”

That’s two sides to the story, but sophomore J.R. Giddens had another — even if his tongue was planted firmly in cheek.

At a news conference following practice, Kansas University's Christian Moody, left, Michael Lee, center, and Jeff Hawkins are projected on a TV monitor. The Jayhawks met the press Thursday at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.

“Mike’s always clowning on me about how I have a juicy haircut and a Jerry Curl,” Giddens said, “so I’m going to talk about him. The reason why J-Hawk fell down … have you seen his lips? Mike Lee’s lips stick out from his mouth. Mike wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing with his lips, and so J-Hawk ran into his lips. He just crumbled to the floor.

“When you got big lips like Mike Lee, you got to watch where you put them.”

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Dunk-tacular: For the final five minutes of the workout, a couple of players showed off their above-the-rim prowess, particularly freshmen C.J. Giles and Darnell Jackson.

The two — who are close friends — both threw down a couple of sick dunks, with Jackson maybe having a slight edge on the oooh-and-ahhh meter provided by the fans. Jackson had a nice baseline jam to start things off, then later threw down a 360-degree slam.

“It’s to get our energy flowing, get us confident and ready to play,” Jackson said.

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Relaxed squad: The mood in KU’s locker room was, to say the least, loose.

Several of the guys, when they weren’t being interviewed, were listening to their iPods and horsing around with each other. Jeremy Case dropped a freestyle rap for a television camera, while Jackson and Giddens got caught up arguing over who dunked on whom in high school.

Regardless, Giddens said the Jayhawks would be all business today.

“It’s going to be a good game,” Giddens said. “If we don’t bring our A-game, Bucknell will send the Jayhawks home.”

He paused.

“But,” he said, “we’ll bring our A-game.”