KU junior guard Tyrone Appleton works on boxing-out with James Warren, 10, Topeka, during the KU men's basketball Holiday Clinic at Allen Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon, Dec. 28, 2008.

Kansas University’s basketball players, who were awarded a three-day Christmas furlough, returned to campus for one practice Saturday night and two Sunday — one before and one after the Jayhawks’ 21?2-hour holiday clinic for youths.

“The guys are in good spirits,” KU coach Bill Self said Sunday afternoon after a 45-minute autograph session with 275 campers in Allen Fieldhouse.

“Everybody is back, and I think everybody had a good Christmas. We only had one delay coming back. Chase (Buford, San Antonio native) got stranded in Dallas for a few hours. Other than that, everybody got back in time.”

The Jayhawks headed to their hometowns following Tuesday night’s 84-67 loss to Arizona.

“I would have liked to practice after the loss to correct some things, but going home was good. I’d not seen my family in a long time. It was nice to get home and see them,” Chicago junior Sherron Collins said.

He spent the bulk of his time with his 20-month-old son, Sherr’mari.

“Just being able to see my son was the highlight for me. He got a lot of stuff. A lot of people got him everything,” Sherron Collins said with a smile. “I don’t get gifts any more. Now is the time of giving for me. As long as I gave my son something, it’s good.”

The Self family Christmas involved no traveling.

“I chilled with my family. We stayed here,” Self said. “I shouldn’t say we didn’t do anything. We didn’t do much. We definitely had a great Christmas hanging out at the house.”

He did grow antsy Saturday afternoon as he waited for the players to arrive for a night workout. After all, there were a lot of errors to correct from the previous game at Arizona.

“I was looking forward to getting back to practice,” Self said. “I don’t kill ’em based on wins and losses. We may have more intense situations based on things that are controllable, which are effort, focus or concentration.

“Sometimes you just get beat. In this particular situation, I think we helped Arizona get the best of us. We had control of the game (nine-point lead a minute into the second half). We just let it get away from us,” he added.

The Jayhawks (8-3) will practice once today in preparation for Tuesday’s 8 p.m. home game against Albany (8-4).

“They are 8-4. They have good balance, have a couple guys who could definitely have big nights,” Self said. “We are not in position to take anybody lightly or for granted. I’m excited about getting back and playing. Arizona … a lot of good things happened, of course more negative than good things in the second half. When you look at it as a whole … the first road trip I saw some positives. We know we can get better if we improve just a little bit in several areas. I think we can do that.”

Collins said he liked what he saw at practice Saturday night and Sunday morning.

“We’re taking steps forward, going in a positive direction again. We’ve got to keep it going,” Collins said.