Darnell Jackson peered over his shoulder as Kansas University basketball staffer Danny Manning prepared to hoist a three-pointer late Thursday afternoon in Allen Fieldhouse.

“Brick!” Jackson, KU’s junior power forward, heckled as he strolled through the northwest tunnel toward the locker room.

“What’s that?” former collegiate All-American and NBA all-star Manning said after his shot dropped through the hoop.

“Never mind,” Jackson replied with a grin as he left the premises.

Carefree Jayhawk players and coaches were in no hurry to exit James Naismith Court after a 2 1â2-hour practice. Instead, they remained to shoot jumpers and trade good-natured barbs, visibly relieved to have final exams out of the way.

“I think everybody is enjoying it,” junior Russell Robinson said of some post-practice bonding. “It’s been a stressful week. Just trying to finish the semester strong wears on you mentally. There’s been a drain on everybody’s minds having to deal with school and stuff.”

Some unlucky players like Julian Wright still had a final or two to tackle today, but most – Robinson included – needn’t pick up a book again until Jan. 19, the start of the second semester.

“I did have to pull an all-nighter to get a paper done, but everything’s been good,” Robinson said of finals week. “I had two finals, hard ones: Organization Communication and a public speaking class. I had to remember speeches, authors and quotes. It was tough.”

Freshman Sherron Collins admitted “it was a tough couple of days, but I think I did all right overall. It’s more serious here (than high school). It’s your life. You have got to really pay attention more and take better notes. In high school it was recent assignments, recent tests, and here it’s just stuff we went over the whole semester. You’ve got to go back and look at every note, so it’s totally different from high school and more important, too.”

Freshman Darrell Arthur also thought he fared well on his exams.

“I think I did OK on both of them,” he said, adding, “It was stressful. You’ve got to study all day.”

KU coach Bill Self said he was confident the Jayhawks would record strong grades.

“I don’t know if any of those guys are grading their own exams, (but) to hear them tell it they are doing well,” Self cracked. “I think we’ll have a good finals week based on the little bit of information I’ve gotten so far.”

Like his players, Self wasn’t immune to studying this past week.

He’s been eyeing game films of his Jayhawks, 8-2 entering Tuesday’s 7 p.m. home battle against Winston-Salem State.

“I’ve gone back and watched last year’s tape where we were playing very well and last year’s tape when we weren’t playing as well and try to figure out some differences,” Self said.

“There’s not that much stuff we’re doing differently now than we did last year. It’s just that we’re not executing as well as we did last year, and we’re not playing with the reckless abandon we did, and that’s what we’ve got to get back – that aggressive reckless abandon while still being sound.

“It’s not far off, just a thing here or there that’s keeping us from being as good as we can be on that end.”

He said re-developing an aggressive mindset on offense was vital.

“You have to develop it in practice because it is the repetition that breeds confidence,” Self said. “The repetition through practice will allow us to play with more confidence offensively once the game starts.”

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Bumps, bruises: KU junior center Sasha Kaun sprained his left ankle at practice Thursday and could miss a couple days of practice heading into the Winston-Salem game. He missed the first three games of the season as well as two exhibitions because of a partially torn patellar tendon in his right knee.

Robinson said his right wrist was feeling better. “My wrist is not sprained, just sore. It’s not affecting my shooting. It’s nothing serious,” he said.

Of Robinson’s wrist, Self noted: “It’s not bad. He’s had some issues with his wrist. Russell will never use an excuse. It’s probably bothered him more than he let on.”

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Next up: Winston-Salem State will take a 1-12 record into Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. game at Georgetown. The Rams have been outscored by an average of 73.2 ppg to 55.8. Included were losses to Notre Dame (90-45), Auburn (95-62), Fresno State (85-63) and South Alabama (76-58). Their only victory was against Anderson College, 67-44.