COLLEGE

KU guard Wiggins still learning defensively

Releford says top recruit will benefit from additional practices over break

Jesse Newell
Andrew Wiggins, left, talks with Kansas coach Bill Self during the Jayhawks' game Dec. 14 against New Mexico.

LAWRENCE — Former Kansas player Travis Releford hasn’t had a lot of time to study Andrew Wiggins’ game while pursuing his basketball career overseas.

Still, Releford has seen enough to know the potential is there defensively.

“He’s got the length. He’s very athletic. All it takes is just wanting to do it,” Releford said. “If he wants to do it, then I think he can be a great defender.”

Releford — KU’s defensive stopper a year ago — watched from behind the bench last Saturday as Wiggins struggled defensively against New Mexico guard Kendall Williams, who finished with 24 points on 7-for-13 shooting.

Though there isn’t too much shame in allowing points to Williams — the reigning Mountain West player of the year — Releford could see some things defensively similar to freshman mistakes he made early in his career.

There were times against UNM that Wiggins got caught on ball screens, a term KU coach Bill Self likes to call “velcro.”

“If I’d stick to the screen, my guy would get a basket,” Releford said. “It’s just something he’s going to have to learn. With this Christmas break, they have a lot of time to work on those things.”

Wiggins, like many of his teammates, also seemed to defend with the mindset that on ball screens, there would always be someone behind him to help.

Self had Releford talk to the team about that exact topic during practice last week.

“I would come out of the games or whatever, and I would complain, ‘There’s supposed to be help.’ He knows there’s supposed to be help for me, but he’d tell me, ‘Act like there’s no help there and just get through the screen,’” Releford said. “That stuck with me. ‘All right, now I’m not counting on anyone to help me out with screens.’”

Self — talking the day before KU’s 11 a.m. game Saturday against Georgetown — admitted that Wiggins didn’t have one of his best defensive games in KU’s 80-63 victory over UNM.

The coach still wasn’t discouraged.

“(Andrew) wasn't bad. I'm just used to his man not ever scoring,” Self said. “But he had a really good guy (to guard in Williams). He's been really good in practice, and I think he's getting better every day, especially on that end.”

The 6-foot-7 Wiggins, who has asked Self to have him guard other top players, including Duke’s Jabari Parker and Towson’s Jerrelle Benimon this year, says he’s still learning all the nuances that go with playing sound defense.

“Just trying to stay disciplined with the little things,” Wiggins said. “Just always being in a defensive stance, digging on the post, how to play the post … just the little things.”

The fact that it’s still a work in progress for Wiggins isn’t a surprise to Releford, who had three years of practice time before he broke into KU’s rotation his junior season.

“Every freshman coming in from high school … you’ve got to learn the game,” Releford said. “All your life, you’ve been playing it. You learn the fundamentals. But in college, you’ve got to learn, because there’s a strategy to it. There’s a strategy to everything, defense and offense.

“And that’s a big adjustment.”

WHITE OUT Self confirmed Friday that sophomore guard Andrew White III will not play in Saturday’s game because of a hip injury. White also missed KU’s game against UNM with the ailment.

RELEFORD HEALING Releford, who had been playing overseas in Belgium, recently had surgery for a stress fracture in his right foot.

The 6-6 small forward, who is signing his new book “Relentless” before Saturday’s game in the Allen Fieldhouse gift shop, had his stitches looked at by doctors on Thursday and hopes to begin rehabbing once he gets his cast removed next week.

KU FOOTBALL GETS COMMIT — Matthew Boateng, a 6-0, 180-pound cornerback from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., orally committed to the Kansas football team on Friday.

Boateng picked KU over scholarship offers from Indiana, Bowling Green, Marshall and others.

GEORGETOWN VS. #18 KANSAS

Tipoff: 11 a.m. Saturday, Allen Fieldhouse

Line: Kansas by 81/2.

TV/Radio: ESPN/WIBW (580 AM)

Watch Party: Lazy Toad

Next: Toledo, 7 p.m. Dec. 30

PROBABLE LINEUPS

Georgetown (7-2)

P Player Ht. Cl. Pts. Reb.

G Markel Starks 6-2 Sr. 15.7 4.8*

G D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 6-3 So. 16.9 4.6

F Nate Lubick 6-8 Sr. 5.3 6.3

F Jabril Trawick 6-5 Jr. 6.7 2.7

C Joshua Smith 6-10 Jr. 14.1 3.9

Kansas (7-3)

P Player Ht. Cl. Pts. Reb.

G Naadir Tharpe 5-11 Jr. 6.2 5.1*

G Wayne Selden Jr. 6-5 Fr 8.7 3.0

G Andrew Wiggins 6-7 Fr. 15.9 5.9

F Perry Ellis 6-8 So. 14.1 6.7

C Joel Embiid 7-0 Fr. 9.8 6.5

*assists