Former Kansas University guard Michael Lee will be on the bench, but will not play in the Harlem Globetrotters’ exhibition games at 7 tonight and Friday night at Kansas City’s Kemper Arena.

Lee, who recently signed with the ‘Trotters and has played five games with the Clown Princes of Basketball, experienced an accelerated heartbeat during the Globetrotters’ recent game in Cincinnati and is being held out at this time.

“It’s an irregular heartbeat. It skips now and then,” said Lee, who sat behind KU’s bench Wednesday night. “It’s the first time I’ve got it checked out. I can’t play until I get cleared by the doctor.”

Lee attended Globetrotter tryouts last summer, but elected not to play for the team.

“They kept after me and never gave up,” the 2005 KU graduate said, adding, “It was an opportunity to play. Sitting at home wasn’t enjoyable.”

Lee joked that he had learned the Globetrotter routines.

“On tour it’s my job to tear up newspapers and set up cups of water,” Lee joked of a famous Globetrotter routine in which a ‘Trotter player fires a bucket of newspaper pieces, not water, into the stands.

On a serious note, he said he had a heart-to-heart talk with former teammate Jeff Hawkins, who busted a slump by scoring 19 against Yale.

“Usually we joke around, but today I was serious. I said, ‘You’ve got to play like that every night,'” Lee said. “He played like the J-Hawk of the past, a great shooter, defender, somebody who makes things happen. This was great for him.”

¢ Trotter compliment?: “Mike Lee is a natural fit for the Harlem Globetrotters,” team chairman and CEO Manny Jackson said. “Besides being a great athlete on the court, we feel he was an underachiever from a great college basketball program who has the intelligence and personality traits of a natural ambassador. I look forward to watching him develop his attributes on and off the court during the Globetrotters’ world tour.”

Presumably, Jackson, whose quote appeared on a press release, meant “overachiever,” not underachiever.

¢ Better second half: KU center Sasha Kaun, who did not start for the first time this season, had two points and one board in five minutes during the first half. He had 10 points and four boards in 10 minutes during the final half.

“He didn’t like sitting over there so much,” Self said. “The second half he was great.”

¢ Clank: KU hit eight of 17 free throws. Yale was a perfect 3-for-3.

“Miserable,” Self said. “It’s already cost us two games – the Arkansas game and St. Joe’s game. We will need them from this point forward.”

¢ Lookin’ ahead?: Was KU looking ahead to Saturday’s 11 a.m. tipoff against Kentucky? Maybe.

“I think we started a little sluggish,” Mario Chalmers said. “I think everybody wasn’t taking the game that seriously. Jeff (Hawkins) came in and brought us energy.”

¢ Stats, facts: KU has won five straight games. : KU went on a 24-6 run to end the game, punctuated by a layup from Matt Kleinmann. : KU’s 12 fouls set a season low. : KU’s 29 assists marked a season high. : KU hit 54.7 percent of its shots. : Hawkins’ previous career-tying high of 19 points came against TCU in 2003. : Jeremy Case had a career-high three assists and knocked in two threes. : Yale’s three free throws (making all three) are fewest by a KU foe since UNC Asheville attempted three on Jan. 2, 1989.