Kansas starters come together before tipoff against North Carolina State on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

After being burned once before, not that long ago, Kansas coach Bill Self isn’t quite ready to say the Jayhawks have taken a step forward.

“Last time I told you I thought we were getting better, we sucked,” he told reporters on Thursday. “So I’m not going to say that, but I will tell you this: I think we’ve had a good, productive week and attitudes have been terrific, and knock on wood, seem to be more healthy.”

The Jayhawks steered their season back on course after uninspiring road losses at Creighton and Missouri with a 75-60 victory over N.C. State at Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 14. That was KU’s lone game in a two-week span as the Jayhawks have been working tirelessly in practice to improve prior to the start of Big 12 play on New Year’s Eve.

“We definitely had some things we needed to work on,” forward Zach Clemence said. “It was some tough ones, I’m not going to lie, it was some tough practices, but I think we needed it. We’re better from it, so I think it all worked out.”

The last benchmark by which the team can measure its progress, as it continues to incorporate its new players (six weeks into their KU careers at this point) ahead of the ordeal that will be the 20-game Big 12 Conference schedule, is a game against Brown on Sunday at 2 p.m.

“Going into Big 12 play last year, I’m not sure that we weren’t playing maybe a little bit better as a whole than we have so far … but this year, to me, there’s more unknown,” Self said. “How much can Shak (Moore) help us? How much can Rylan (Griffen) and AJ (Storr) really play to their ability that fits in the way that we do it and really let loose and have a big second semester?”

Hosting the Bears won’t resolve any of these questions even remotely definitively, but it could at least provide some clues as to how the Jayhawks are trending entering a new phase of their season.

Brown will enter Sunday with six straight wins, including most recently in a pair of nailbiters against in-state foes Bryant and previously unbeaten Rhode Island. The Bryant game came down to a go-ahead 3-pointer by Kino Lilly Jr. that rattled in with three seconds remaining, while the Rhode Island game went to two overtimes with Lilly making a layup and six free throws in the final period.

Lilly, a senior guard from Glenn Dale, Maryland, is clearly the head of the snake for the Bears, as a reigning first-team All-Ivy League player who has scored exactly 23 points in each of the last three games and is already 40-for-90 (44.4%) from deep this year.

Forward Landon Lewis has stepped up in an increased role this season with 14.9 points and 7.4 rebounds, and his 20 total blocks are a big part of why Brown is 11th in the country with 5.7 blocks per game. At 6-foot-5, Aaron Cooley provides another reliable scoring option on the wing while rebounding about as well as Lewis.

The Bears may only have received one vote in the Ivy’s preseason poll, but they have another believer in Self.

“I really believe that — I don’t know exactly where they were predicted in the preseason conference race — but they’ll be a team that competes for a championship in their league,” he said.

No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks (8-2) vs. Brown Bears (7-3)

• Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, 2 p.m.

• Broadcast: ESPN

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KMXN FM 92.9)

Keep an eye out

Plateauing: Self said that freshman center Flory Bidunga had been on “a very, very dramatic incline” in terms of overall growth before stagnating around the time KU lost at Creighton and Missouri in consecutive games. Indeed, Bidunga had been averaging eight points per game but has scored three total in the last three games and has also seen his rebounding numbers decline in lesser action — not long after Self had said he wanted Bidunga to be playing even more. Now, Self believes Bidunga is back on an upward trajectory, which he noted is particularly important as he looks to keep Hunter Dickinson’s minutes in check. Right now Dickinson is averaging just over 29 minutes per game against power-conference foes, right around Self’s 30-minute goal.

Defined role: With Moore continuing to practice in full ahead of the Christmas break — an outcome that seemed unlikely when Self said on Nov. 26 he would be out indefinitely — Self expects him to settle into the role of backup point guard behind Dajuan Harris Jr. Moore’s three appearances amid his injury struggles have been so brief at 12 minutes total that he hasn’t yet had the chance to embrace that role in any meaningful way. Sunday could be his first opportunity to do so and demonstrate the value he provides the Jayhawks as “potentially an elite perimeter defender and elite athlete,” as Self put it. If KU can successfully install Moore as the backup point guard, by the way, it would also mean David Coit and Zeke Mayo could play exclusively off the ball.

Load management: This will be more of a concern as KU delves into its conference schedule beginning Dec. 31, but Self acknowledged on Thursday that he has to “become wiser” when it comes to practicing players like Dickinson, KJ Adams and Hunter Dickinson in a lighter fashion throughout the season. With a 20-game conference schedule featuring no breaks on the horizon, they’ll need to preserve their energy in order to avoid becoming a tired team, as Self said they were last year.

Off-kilter observation

This is the third straight year that KU has entered its holiday break by playing against an Ivy League team. The last two years have yielded somewhat shaky victories against Harvard in 2022 (KU trailed 20-16 15 minutes in before scoring 13 straight) and Yale in 2023 (KU trailed 25-14 14 minutes in and remained behind as late as the 12-minute mark of the second half).