Kansas University's Rodrick Stewart skies for a rebound against Nebraska's Sek Henry (1), Cookie Miller (24) and Ade Dagunduro (11). Stewart played nine minutes in the Jayhawks' 79-58 victory Jan. 12 in Lincoln, Neb.

Kansas University senior guard Rodrick Stewart, who averaged 17.1 minutes per game during the nonconference season, is down to 8.0 minutes in four league contests.

But hey … who’s counting?

Not team player Stewart, that is for sure.

“This is bigger than me. It’s not about me,” Stewart said simply.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound defensive whiz from Seattle – he started seven games early-on as Brandon Rush was brought back slowly from offseason knee surgery – says he remains upbeat as ever entering today’s 12:45 p.m. home battle against Nebraska.

“I still have the same attitude, the same mind-set as I had at the beginning of the season,” said Stewart, who played 29 and 27 minutes in victories over Southern Cal and Arizona.

“It’s not about what I am doing. It’s all about winning.”

Stewart, who also was counted on heavily during the six games Sherron Collins missed because of a foot injury, has averaged 4.2 points and 2.8 rebounds – while dishing 38 assists to 20 turnovers – in 19 games.

In league play, Stewart has scored four points and grabbed 10 rebounds total, while focusing on defense.

“Rodrick is an energy guy. He guards, guards, guards,” sophomore Collins said. “He can guard the 4 (power forward) through the 1 (point guard). I think he takes pride in guarding. He does it really well.”

“He’s a great defensive player,” junior guard Mario Chalmers noted. “He’s playing a big role. He’s not playing as many minutes as he was, (but) he’s still effective when he gets in there.

“He gets rebounds that get us extra possessions. That’s what we need. He gives us extra energy.”

Stewart had four rebounds in nine minutes in last Saturday’s 76-70 victory at Missouri and two in nine minutes of KU’s 79-58 victory over Nebraska on Jan. 12 in Lincoln.

He spent some time shadowing Ryan Anderson, a 6-foot-4 sophomore out of Stewart’s alma mater, Seattle’s Rainier Beach High. Anderson scored 12 points off 4-of-12 shooting, 3-of-10 from three-point land.

“When you play a team like Nebraska, it will be a fast-paced game. They have a lot of guards, too,” Stewart said.

He indicated his role is “to be aggressive when I’m out there. It comes down to guarding your man. It’s really what we do. We can’t worry about stuff they (Huskers, 11-5 overall, 0-3 league) run. If we guard like we can, we can take teams out of the offensive sets they run.”

In the first meeting, 6-11 center Aleks Maric led the Huskers with 19 points off 7-of-12 shooting. Anderson was the only other Husker in double figures on a day NU hit 40 percent of its shots to KU’s 53.8 mark.

“He is one of those guys that will be in the whole game unless he’s in foul trouble,” Stewart said of Maric, who averages a team-leading 16.6 points and 8.2 rebounds. “We’ve got to attack him, get him running, get him a little tired.

“It’s going to be a good game. It’s always hard to play somebody a second time. You can blow a team out the first game, the second game can be a totally different thing,” Stewart added. “They have enough talent. They can adjust to a lot of the things we do. We will come out and do what we do, play defense, try to play through our bigs (on offense).”

KU coach Bill Self, who has been primarily using a seven-man rotation of late, said he has complete trust in Stewart.

“Rod give us energy, toughness, steals extra possessions for us,” Self said. “His role could be eight minutes a game to 20 minutes a game depending on personnel or foul issues. His role hasn’t changed.”

One of Stewart’s roles is senior leader.

“Rod is a team player. Everybody loves him. He keeps us going,” senior guard Russell Robinson said. “He’s one of the locker room guys, keeping everybody together. He might not be getting the minutes on the court right now, but he will come in there, and when he does he changes the game for us.”

Stewart’s positive attitude rubs off on the rest of the players, junior Brandon Rush said.

“He’s full of energy. He goes hard all the time in games and practice,” Rush said. “He’s always smiling. He’s living a dream right now. He’s at Kansas playing for the No. 2 team in the country. He’s having a dream season.”

Indeed …

“It’s definitely been fun,” Stewart said of his final college season. “This isn’t about me going in there trying to score or anything. It’s about accepting your role. That’s when you have great teams, when everybody can accept their role.

“I am not a selfish guy at all. We’ve got a deep team, a lot of guys who contribute every day in practice and in games.

“We’re good. We’ve still got a long ways to go. We’re getting there, though,” Stewart concluded.