Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor comes away with a steal against Cal during the second half, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, California.

A dusting of snow on Christmas Day is generally a good thing … buckets upon buckets of the white stuff in conjunction with 40 to 50 mph wind gusts not so much.

“I’ve never seen that much snow in my life. I think we had up to 34 inches in my neighborhood,” Kansas University junior guard Tyshawn Taylor said.

Hoping for picturesque flurries during a short, Thursday night until Sunday morning Christmas vacation in Hoboken, N.J., Taylor instead confronted a late December blizzard. It’s a storm that delayed his return to KU’s campus to Tuesday night.

He missed four of KU’s five practices in advance of an 82-57 victory over University of Texas at Arlington on Wednesday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

“My neighborhood is kind of closed in, so all the snow that was pushed off the street was pushed on the sidewalk. It was crazy,” the 6-foot-3 combo guard said, adding, “I didn’t do anything (but stay in his aunt’s house). There were a lot of little kids outside playing in it. They had fun in it. I didn’t want to go out.”

Initially, Taylor was to have departed Newark Liberty International Airport for Kansas City International at 11 a.m., Sunday.

“I didn’t even go to the airport. I called and my flight was canceled,” Taylor said. “They canceled the rest of the flights for that day. I made another one for the next day (Monday). It got canceled, too. I never left the house until I was actually getting on my plane (Tuesday).”

Even Tuesday’s fight plan was altered, despite the fact the bulk of the snow fell from Sunday night through Monday in New York and Jersey.

“My flight was at noon. It got pushed to 2:30,” Taylor said. “When I got to the airport, I was about to check in and they said they moved my flight back to 12, something like that, so I missed that flight and had to get another one at 3. It was a rough couple days, confusing.

“I’m sure I’ve been through worse, but it was a weird situation for me missing all those practices. I was able to work out that (Tuesday) night and went to shootaround (before game Wednesday). That’s really it. Then we played.”

A starter in KU’s first 11 games, Taylor came off the bench to score eight points (3-of-3 from field, 2-of-2 from line) and dish two assists against one turnover in 15 minutes against UT Arlington.

“In some spots I think I was,” Taylor said, asked if he was rusty. “I think it will come back with practice.”

All things considered, Taylor said it was still worth making the trip to Jersey.

“I mean, I got to see my family,” he said. “It was good in that way. I wish I could have gotten back a couple of days earlier, but I just couldn’t.”

Sophomore Elijah Johnson and freshman Josh Selby started their first games of the season at guard, while Tyrel Reed opened for the 12th straight game on the perimeter as well. Johnson scored 11 points off 4-of-5 shooting and dished five assists. Selby went 1-of-9 from the field, good for two points (with two assists). Reed hit one of seven shots and scored three points with four rebounds.

“I think Elijah played well. He played solid. I think he ran the team well and played well,” Taylor said. “Josh just missed shots. I think he did a lot of things well. He attacked. He was aggressive.”

KU, which holds its holiday clinic for youths from 10 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., today, in Allen Fieldhouse, will meet Miami of Ohio at 5 p.m., Sunday, in Allen.