photo by: Nick Krug

Oklahoma forward Kristian Doolittle (21) falls on top of Kansas forward Silvio De Sousa (22) in the post during the first half, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Though his team-first attitude never took a hit during weeks of far more watching from the bench than actually playing for Kansas, freshman Silvio De Sousa still needed his own on-court moment to take the next step in his progression.

Monday’s romp over Oklahoma at Allen Fieldhouse provided De Sousa the opportunity to finally advance past the starting gate of his college basketball career.

In past, far-more-brief cameos, the 19-year-old who didn’t join the program until late December had the misfortune of his first on-the-floor action being a foul, turnover, bad defensive rotation or some other type of mistake. But against OU, not even a second had ticked off the first-half clock when De Sousa’s confidence received a boost.

All it took was a simple box-out of Jamuni McNeace on a missed Kameron McGusty free throw. De Sousa had a defensive rebound and a favorable start to his night.

At that instant, De Sousa later revealed, he thought to himself, “Oh, I’m going to play a lot tonight.”

His 13 minutes probably felt like 40 for the gung-ho young big man after playing three or fewer in his previous seven appearances, and not getting off the bench at all in two others.

After contributing career-highs of 10 points and 6 rebounds, as well as his first assist as a Jayhawk — he tracked down a loose ball and passed to Malik Newman for a deep 3-pointer — De Sousa has to be feeling much different now about his status and potential.

“I’m sure he is,” KU coach Bill Self said Thursday, adding De Sousa had some “bounce” during the team’s mid-week practice that followed his breakout game. “Our whole team did. But I think that had to do a world of good for him from a confidence standpoint.”

At 6-foot-9 and 245 pounds, De Sousa isn’t just a large body. The freshman from Luanda, Angola, works hard. Size and effort can go a long way for even the rawest young players. Now De Sousa, his teammates and the Kansas coaches have seen how he can positively impact the team.

De Sousa hustled his way to his first basket versus Oklahoma. When Newman swiped the ball from a driving Trae Young and took off in the other direction, De Sousa could’ve sat back and watched Newman and Svi Mykhailiuk execute a two-on-one fast break.

Good thing he didn’t. Newman held on to the ball too long and lost his handle when McGusty lunged for a possible steal. Newman hurried a layup upon recovering and when it missed, De Sousa, who had sprinted the floor with Newman and Mykhailiuk, easily tipped it in.