Kansas basketball notebook

Kansas University sophomore Mario Chalmers, who had 15 points and two assists against three turnovers in 34 minutes, played with his right hand taped. He has a severe blister on the palm of his shooting hand. : Darrell Arthur fell hard in the first half and banged his head on the floor, but was able to continue playing after a short stay on the bench.

¢
Rotation cut: KU coach Bill Self used just eight players.

“We didn’t use Rod (Stewart). Maybe we should have. I didn’t feel from a fatigue standpoint it was ever a factor,” Self said.

¢
Windy City lover despite loss: Self, who formerly coached at the University of Illinois, was asked if he’d return to play again in Chicago.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We play DePaul next year (in Allen Fieldhouse). Who knows if we’ll extend the series? We want to recruit here. If you are fortunate enough to get a player from the area, you want to at least give them an opportunity to go home.”

Julian Wright and Sherron Collins hail from Chicago.

“It was probably too soon for Sherron (five points, five rebounds, two assists in 14 minutes), but a pretty good thing for Julian (12 points, five rebounds),” Self said, indicating both players were nervous.

“They both were tight, yeah. Julian played better after the first five or six minutes. Sherron did fine. He usually is a great layup shooter. He missed two or three bunnies.”

Self added: “I love Chicago. I have since I was in Champaign. I know there’s a lot of people who love me up here,” he quipped of Illini fans miffed at him for leaving U of I after three seasons. “Certainly what happened (Saturday) will not be a determining factor if we come back or not. We’ll do what is best for our team.”

¢
Meyer’s memory honored: Members from 34 of Ray Meyer’s 42 DePaul teams were on hand Saturday for “Ray Meyer Day” festivities. Ceremonies were held before the game and at halftime to celebrate the man who won 724 games at the school.

Three of Meyer’s children presented the game ball. A video was shown at halftime honoring “The Coach” who died on March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – at age 92.

Fans attending the game received a Meyer basketball card with the caption, “A Celebration of Coach: December 2, 2006.”

“He’s always going to be up there,” Meyer’s son, Joey, coach of the NBADL’s Tulsa 66ers, told the Arlington Heights Daily Herald. Joey played for Ray at DePaul and succeeded his dad as Blue Demons coach in 1984. “He’s not going to be forgotten. I can guarantee you that.”

Athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto said the school wanted to have the celebration in December in honor of Meyer’s birthday (Dec. 18).

Self remembers meeting with Meyer on several occasions, including Big Ten postseason tournaments held at Chicago’s United Center during Self’s three years at Illinois.

“He was a true gentleman in every sense of the word,” Self said.

¢
Heavyweight bout: DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright, whose team had been idle since the Maui Invitational 10 days ago, prepared heavily for the KU game.

“When you play a heavyweight,” Wainwright said, “you have to have respect for their knockout power.”

¢
Celebration: A few students swarmed the court after the game. The Demons’ Wesley Green hopped on the back of Marcus Heard and received a ride through the tunnel after a brief celebration.

¢
Stats, facts: There appeared to be at least 5,000 KU fans in a crowd of 16,922. : For the second straight game, Kansas held its opponent to just six field goals in the first half. : KU’s 12 rebounds in the first half were the fewest since also pulling down 12 in the opening stanza last year at Texas A&M (Jan. 25, 2006). : It was the first loss of the year against five wins with a lineup of Arthur, Chalmers, Russell Robinson, Rush and Wright. : KU’s two losses have both been by seven points. : DePaul shot 26 free throws to Kansas’ 14 to mark the first time this season an opponent has shot more free throws than KU. : Freshman Collins had a career-high five rebounds.