Kansas guard Josh Jackson (11) lets out some frustration after picking up a foul during the second half, Friday, Nov. 18, 2016 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Friday night, during KU’s 86-65 victory over Siena in the Jayhawks’ home opener, freshman Josh Jackson stepped to the brink of taking over the game but walked to the sideline instead of the spotlight, with foul trouble plaguing him for the third consecutive game.

If you’re the type who believes in feelings predicting the future, you know that the Josh Jackson takeover is coming. It’s a feeling that has been sensed and even seen throughout the building during KU’s past two games but has not come yet because of the young guard’s inability to avoid fouls.

Jackson finished Friday’s game with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting and also added three assists, two blocks and a steal. But two first-half charges limited his minutes to 21 for the game — just 6 for the first half — and Jackson was forced to wait at least a couple more nights to deliver the explosion that just about everybody senses is coming.

“I see him doing a lot of good things,” KU coach Bill Self said after the game. “He’s a good passer, he had three assists, he ran through a pass tonight and got an easy basket, he can be disruptive, but it’s hard to be disruptive if you’re playing out of foul trouble the whole time.”

Since the day Jackson signed with Kansas, Self has talked about the competitive fire the 6-foot-8 wing from Detroit would bring to KU’s lineup. Although he has shown flashes of being a big time scorer and defender, his competitive juices have overflowed when the whistle has blown and Jackson has been popped with a foul. He finished with four fouls in the loss to Indiana, fouled out in the win over Duke and finished with four more fouls Friday night. After his third, which KU coach Bill Self said actually was Frank Mason’s fault, Jackson exploded, screaming to himself about both the call and the curse of being

“He’s an emotional youngster,” Self said. “But that’s something he’s gotta do a better job of…. He’s gotta control his emotions a little bit because getting frustrated like that, even though sometimes it’s OK, it’s not thinking next play. You gotta put that behind ya and he’ll get better at that.”

Thursday afternoon, Jackson talked about the foul trouble that had plagued him thus far this season. He admitted that being challenged by opponents makes him play more aggressive but added that he understood — and had been reminded by Self — that he has to play smarter so he can stay on the floor.

“It kind of helps me and hurts my game at times,” Jackson said of his emotions. “Coach Self will tell you himself he loves when I’m fired up. He thinks I’m a better player.”

Self admitted as much following Friday’s win and added that Jackson learning how to adjust to the way the game is called not only will help him stay on the floor for longer than the 22 minutes per game he’s averaging but also will help him be more productive.

“He had two legitimate fouls (against Siena),” Self said. “But two of ’em were he got a head of steam and he’s gotta learn to change directions or maybe not leave his feet in order to make plays when they can see you coming from 40 or 50 feet.

“He’s gonna be a special guy and I think he’s getting more and more comfortable.”

Jackson’s next chance to stay on the floor comes Monday night, when Kansas takes on UAB at 8:30 p.m. at Sprint Center in the CBE Classic.