Wichita — Kansas sophomore guard Malik Newman said the top-seeded Jayhawks have observed some of the national buzz 16th-seeded Penn has garnered ahead of their Thursday NCAA Tournament matchup at Intrust Bank Arena.

KU’s players, Newman shared, are trying to find the balance between ignoring the hype and giving the Quakers the respect they deserve.

“It could be good or it could be bad. I mean, you can look at it as, ‘Ah, man, they’re hyping this team up,’ and this, that and the other,” Newman said. “And then you start thinking about it like, ‘Are they really this good? Are they this and are they that?’ Or you can look at it as they’re just hyping the team up just because we’re Kansas or something like that.

“We try our best not to look into it and look at it just as another opponent that’s going in to play,” Newman continued, “and we have to take care of business.”

KU (27-7) and Penn (24-8) tip off Thursday at 1 p.m.

“They’re easily a team that if we overlook then they could give us problems or possibly beat us,” Newman said. “So we can’t overlook anyone at this point. Everyone in the tournament is capable of beating someone. If not, they wouldn’t be here. I think if we overlook somebody our chances of going home would be very high.”