Kansas City, Mo. ? Kansas University’s basketball players did not wave goodbye to Kemper Arena at midday Saturday as the team bus pulled out of the parking lot one final time.

It was more “good riddance” to the Jayhawks’ home-away-from-home following an uninspired 68-58 victory over Toledo – KU’s final game in the 32-year-old structure to be replaced by the shiny new Sprint Center next season.

“It was kind of a ‘dud’ win,” KU coach Bill Self said, noting the sluggish contest “was exactly like our Oregon win here, the Cal win here, the Wisconsin-Milwaukee win here.”

Those victories – in Self’s first three seasons at KU – were by scores of 69-56 (Cal), 73-62 (UW-Milwaukee) and 77-67 (Oregon), none close to resembling ESPN Classics.

“No, it’s not the building. But we have not played well in this building in our regular-season games since I’ve been at KU,” Self said.

The Jayhawks weren’t half-bad the first half.

Brandon Rush snapped out of a shooting slump by hitting four of five threes – good for 12 points – as the Jayhawks blazed to a 44-34 halftime lead. It was a half in which the Jayhawks hit 16 of 22 shots for 72.7 percent while holding Toledo to 42.9 percent marksmanship.

“We made shots, so it looked better, but we didn’t guard,” Self said. “The second half we guarded better, but didn’t make shots.”

Rush misfired on eight of 10 attempts, while the Jayhawks as a team made seven of 28 for 25 percent as the two teams played to a yawn-inducing 24-24 deadlock the second 20 minutes.

“The good thing about us hardly scoring : they hardly scored, too,” Self said of a second half in which the Rockets hit 29.4 percent of their shots, including three of 10 threes. “I think we played too tentative.

Rush, who had made just 16 of 55 shots over the last five games, hit three three-pointers in the final 11 1/2 minutes of the first half, a stretch in which KU cashed 11 of 12 shots and outscored Toledo, 30-14.

He offered a reason for the slump-busting 20 half.

“Brady (Morningstar, freshman) said I wore my shirt inside out, so maybe I should try that from now on,” Rush cracked. “It’s my white undershirt, a little sweatshirt. I did it by accident.”

He had a unique explanation for his chilly second half, in which he hit one of five threes – the one giving him a career-best five for the game.

“I don’t know. His halftime speech cooled us down, I guess. It cooled us down a little bit,” Rush said.

Self’s speech?

“Just how long it took. He kept us in there a little bit longer,” Rush said, noting the coach “wasn’t screaming. He was really mellow, just talking in that tone.”

Rush, who had time to hoist a few shots before the start of the second half, actually had a premonition he’d “come out cold like I did against USC. I started getting stiff when we were in there (locker room).”

Self said he was pleased with Rush’s performance, which included some strong second-half defense on Keonta Howell, who scored just five of his 18 points the final 20 minutes.

Rush and Sasha Kaun each had four blocks in a game the Jayhawks had a school-record 15 rejections.

“Brandon was more aggressive,” Self said. “He didn’t hesitate. I think that he was much better. He will pop out of this. When he does, it’ll be in a big way.”

Rush credited his teammates.

“They were looking for me,” he said. “I had been in a little slump, so my teammates were trying to help me out a lot. They found me, so I started making some threes.”

One of his most impressive buckets was a vicious one-handed slam – he drove the baseline after grabbing the carom of a missed dunk by Darrell Arthur – with 3:05 left, a bucket that gave KU a 61-49 lead.

“I hadn’t done that in a while,” Rush said. “Things started opening up after I started making shots.”

Self spent a long time – 30 minutes, actually – talking to his team after the somewhat lethargic victory. Toledo’s players and coaches had been out of the interview room a good 10 minutes before Self arrived.

“He said what everybody out there saw,” junior center Kaun said. “He didn’t yell or anything. He told us the truth of what we need to do to get where we need to be.”

That is …

“Play with more enthusiasm. Be more excited about it. Have more presence about us instead of just being out there,” Kaun said.

KU’s coach, who has 10 days to prepare the troops for their next game, against Winston-Salem State on Dec, 19, is anxious for the team to get in the gym.

“The thing that disappoints me,” Self said, “is the fact we haven’t got that nitty-gritty tough mind-set yet. : This game is such an easy game. What we do is make the game a lot harder than what it is. We’re thinking ‘great play’ instead of just a good basketball play. Those are the things that drive me nuts.”

The next two weeks are really important. We are not a team yet. We are not a team that has an identity yet.”