Kansas University freshmen forwards Cheick Diallo (13) and Carlton Bragg Jr. come into the KU-TCU game during the first half, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016 at Allen Fieldhouse

It takes more than one encouraging performance to make a college basketball coach trust a freshman as much as he does a veteran in tight spots.

Freshmen Cheick Diallo and Carlton Bragg Jr., in combining for 19 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots in 37 minutes, showed enough Saturday during Kansas University’s 70-63 victory vs. TCU for KU coach Bill Self to say he expects their minutes to increase.

Still, he stopped way short of saying they have surpassed the veterans sharing minutes alongside Perry Ellis.

“I do think we need to get them out there, because from a potential standpoint, looking down the road, they both can do some things better than what our veterans can do,” Self said of Bragg and Diallo. “But our veterans are still better off to help us win close games.”

Self understandably isn’t ready to see what the freshmen can do at the pivotal point of games, but that doesn’t mean he has a closed mind to starting either Bragg or Diallo.

“I thought about starting one of them (vs. TCU),” Self said.

He decided against doing so because he said that, “for the most part,” KU had played well in the previous 10 games.

The time seems right to see whether a start could send one of the freshman’s confidence up another notch. Teams don’t have time to recover from freshmen mistakes in the final minutes, but that’s not the case for bad starts.

“There are a lot of things you can talk about as a coach, and we’ve talked about it with our players,” Self said. “You know, who should we start? We want to make sure we get off to good starts. We want to make sure we have Landen (Lucas) available late game, and he fouls a lot. There are a lot of things that go into thinking about it.”

Senior Jamari Traylor’s role as a defensive pest and energizer is best suited to coming off the bench. Hunter Mickelson has made 10 consecutive starts, but based on the senior’s dwindling minutes, Self does not appear enamored with what he has seen. Mickelson has played five minutes in each of the past three games.

If Self reduces the 11-man rotation, Mickelson would seem the most likely candidate for odd-man-out status.

That would open a starting assignment for Bragg or Diallo, or both, taking turns based on either that game’s matchup or recent practice performances.

The ball moves better when Bragg is in the game than with Diallo, and opposing players have more to think about near the rim when Diallo plays. Watching Self attack the puzzle of the second post position remains intriguing.