Welcome to a special Jayhawk Flashback.

The next two blogs won’t feature my choice for a classic KU game, but instead a former Jayhawk’s choice as his favorite Allen Fieldhouse memory.

We’ll get to Billy Thomas’ choice next week, but this week we’ll focus on current Indiana Pacer Brandon Rush.

After asking him for his favorite home game, he only took a second to come up with an answer.

“I’d say my freshman year when we played Kentucky,” he said with a grin.

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The 6Sports highlights are below.*

* — Be warned: The sound quality isn’t great from our archives. There are a few beeps that shouldn’t be there. Feel free to mute if you need to.

So why did Rush enjoy the game so much?

“I was going off,” Rush said Thursday. “I had 18, 20 points in the first half, and we blew them out, too.”

His memory was close. Rush actually had 16 first-half points, but he ended with a then career-high 24 points and 12 rebounds.

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The game also is best remembered for the appearance of actress Ashley Judd, who sat behind the UK bench.

“I saw the face she made when were whupping Kentucky,” Rush said with a laugh. “It was really funny — a fun game to play in.”

Rush admitted that he peeked at her during the game, oftentimes to see her scowl after a made KU basket.

“It made it a lot better,” Rush said. “It was just a great feeling. It was funny. I saw it on ESPN a couple times and on YouTube. I watch it every now and again.”

Other quick notes from the game

• Looking back, Rush showed his whole scoring repertoire against Kentucky. For more of his highlights, check out the YouTube video below.

• Interestingly enough, Rush said he was “sick a little bit” before the game because of nerves. He looked pretty relaxed in the highlights. Remember, this also was the point in Rush’s career when KU coach Bill Self forced him to do sprints and/or run a treadmill — with the settings at the highest incline on a 4 1/2-minute mile pace — at practice whenever the he wasn’t aggressive or passed up an open shot.

The message seemed to sink in for this game at least.

• I was disappointed after going through these highlights when I didn’t find Russell Robinson’s huge block. I remember watching it live, and Russell got so high for the fast-break block on UK’s Patrick Sparks that I was sure that it was Rush that had blocked it. No doubt that was the highest I ever saw Robinson leap.

• Speaking of Russell, our own Tom Keegan lauded him for his stingy defense against UK sparkplug Rajon Rondo. Keegan said: “Rush was the star, Robinson (12 points) the glue.”

Robinson ended with a career-high 12 points, while Rondo managed just nine points on 2-for-8 shooting.

• I had forgotten that Kentucky was playing short-handed, as Randolph Morris served his last game of a 13-game suspension for hiring an NBA agent.

“I thought it worked out just fine,” Self joked afterwards.

• Kentucky had no assists in the first half. How does that happen?

• Recruits Brady Morningstar, Tyrel Reed, Cole Aldrich and Darrell Arthur all attended the game. Reed and Arthur had not yet committed to KU.

• I love watching Jeff Hawkins at the 2:15 mark. It’s like he’s saying, “I’m open, Russell. Hey Russell, I’m open. THROW ME THE BALL, RUSSELL!”

The jumping jack didn’t work. Russell swished a three himself instead.