College basketball is all new to freshman guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. Since arriving at Kansas, he’s been soaking up every moment on and off the court ahead of tomorrow’s first regular-season matchup with Emporia State.

Transitioning from Blair Academy in New Jersey, Cuffe has a new set of expectations in Lawrence.

“Coming here, it’s a different type of basketball,” he said. “You really have to think and you have to understand the game in order to be great. In high school, you can get away with your athleticism, your speed. But in college, you can’t just do that because everybody is just like you.”

But with boot camp and a Tulsa scrimmage under his belt so far, he’s had a taste for just how different the game is at the next level.

“You have to really think in order to get a bucket,” Cuffe said. “You’ve got to really own what you can do and really maximize it.”

Cuffe is learning from his surroundings. A grade ahead of his high school class, he says the veteran Jayhawks around him made the transition a welcoming one.

“They’ve helped me a lot,” Cuffe said. “It was also outside of the court. They’ll tell me after practice, ‘You remember when this happened? Try doing this a little bit better.' But then it also came to where they were like ‘Want to come hang out with me?’ and stuff like that. Just building that chemistry helped me get a little more comfortable trying to comprehend and learn new things.”

Persistent coaching has also had an impact on Cuffe. Even with such a short time frame before the first regular-season game, the freshman has picked up on some valuable lessons from his coaching staff.

Cuffe says the consistency coming from the staff has helped him chase the preseason adversity and eliminate small issues when they arise.

“They preach just going,” he said. “If you think that you’re going to mess up, as long as you go back at it hard and get back at it, they’re not going to be mad. They’ll deal with you messing up from time to time, but if you go hard at messing up, that’s something you can’t teach at first.”

One of six freshmen on the KU roster, Cuffe hasn’t been alone in this endeavor. He’s developed a strong relationship with South Granville product Bobby Pettiford Jr. this fall.

“Me and Bob, that’s my boy,” Cuffe said with a smile. “We came in as the freshman guards, I guess it was a little competitive which I liked and I know he liked it too. We really became close because we kind of got similar backgrounds.”

Cuffe also shared some words on Dajuan Harris Jr. and remembers watching his growth during his freshman campaign last year.

"Dajuan is a great player,” he said. I watched games last year and I feel he’s really grown as a player. He really accepted his role before and then really maximized what is it now, (Dajuan) I think has a big year where a lot of different NBA teams and scouts look at him and be like, ‘Dang, he could really be on our team and could really help us.’”