Kansas coach Bill Self was not only upset with the officials the first half of the Jayhawks’ 70-54 victory over South Carolina on Sunday at Colonial Center.

He also was unhappy with the rebounding of his players, who were outscrapped 20 boards to 11 the initial half.

“Coach said we were getting our butts kicked and that we had to box out,” said junior center Sasha Kaun, who had no boards but played just three minutes the first half because of early foul problems.

Led by Kaun, who had six rebounds and six points, the Jayhawks wound up outrebounding South Carolina, 31-28.

Julian Wright had seven rebounds to go with six points in 31 minutes. Brandon Rush had six boards.

KU had double-digit scorers in Mario Chalmers (19), Darrell Arthur (17) and Rush (12).

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Stats, facts: It’s believed Self’s first-half technical was the third in his four years at KU. He also received a ‘T’ in games against Oklahoma State and Richmond his first year on Mount Oread. The coach and media-relations officials could recall no other T’s for Self. : Tre’ Kelley, who missed Wednesday’s game against Western Carolina because of a sprained knee, missed 13 of 16 shots. He had 10 points, six assists and six turnovers in 37 minutes. : Brandon Wallace grabbed eight rebounds : Chalmers turned an ankle in the first half but was fine after a short stay on the bench.

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AD honored: KU athletic Lew Perkins was greeted at the Marriott Hotel on Sunday by several athletic-department members and some of his former basketball players at University of South Carolina-Aiken, where Perkins served as basketball coach and AD.

The school announced plans for a “Lew Perkins Wall of Champions” to honor athletes at the school. Several of the Aiken players and administrators spoke in a ceremony at the KU team hotel.

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This is a football school: SC media members were in a frenzy before the game when reports surfaced on a Web site that star sophomore receiver Sidney Rice was headed to the NFL.

Steve Fink, former Kansas City Royals media director who now works in a similar capacity at South Carolina, phoned coach Steve Spurrier, then confirmed to the media the junior standout was NFL-bound.

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Kansas fans: Perhaps 1,000 or so KU fans in Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and other neighboring cities took advantage of the Jayhawks’ rare appearance in the Southeast and attended the game.

Mary Rambow, who grew up in Columbia, S.C., and graduated from South Carolina, then earned a postgraduate degree at KU, made the three-hour drive from the Atlanta area with her husband, William.

William, who graduated from South Carolina, had a SC flag on his side of the car; Mary had a KU flag on her side of the car as it traveled down I-20 for the contest.

Their son currently is in grad school at SC.

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Tough home slate: The State newspaper of Columbia, S.C. points out that South Carolina’s next four home opponents all have won at least one NCAA title since 1988: KU, Florida (Saturday), Kentucky (Jan. 16) and Arkansas (Jan. 24). All four opponents have been an NCAA runner-up at least once since 1991 and seven times overall (Kentucky three times, KU twice and Florida and Arkansas once).

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Good for RPI: KU and South Carolina both have beaten Southern Cal, a team that defeated previously undefeated Oregon on Wednesday. Oregon came back to down previously unbeaten UCLA on Saturday.

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Odom likes opportunity: USC coach Dave Odom likes tough nonconference matchups like the KU game.

“I like to play coaches like Bill Self who aren’t paranoid. They’re not worried about, ‘What if I lose this game?’ They have confidence that their team’s going to play well,” Odom said. “They look at us as a quality opponent.”

Added guard Bryce Sheldon: “You look at the schedule sheet, and it says Kansas, at Georgia, then Florida.’ And you’re like, ‘Whoa,’ and you’ve got to start picking it up.”