The Jayhawks' first big test of the season comes on Friday when #9 North Carolina comes into Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas’ roster features a lot of new faces who will experience an extra-juiced crowd for the first time.
It may be a culture shock moment for David Coit, who spent two years at Northern Illinois after spending time at the junior college level. Coit said the biggest game of his career was playing at Marquette last season, but this will be a whole other beast.
“Obviously, I’ve never played in probably a game this big or environment this big, so I definitely just want to enjoy every moment of it,” Coit said. “I know it’s gonna be fun, it’s gonna be competitive, it’s gonna be high level.”
The students are equally as excited for the top 10 matchup, as they hold the usual camping tradition throughout the week. Coit and Rylan Griffen said were shocked to see that many people on the fieldhouse floors, saying “I’ve never seen that.”
“I thought they were students trying to do something, like and I heard they was camping and I’m like, ‘We don’t play til Friday’,” Griffen said. “Shoutout to y’all.”
Griffen has recent experience against the Tar Heels, as he and Alabama knocked them off in the Sweet Sixteen last season. Griffen said he remembered that they won and added that North Carolina was a talented team.
“It’s a big-time matchup,” Griffen said. “Two good programs, two championship-type programs going at it, and it’s just gonna be fun. I feel like it’ll be great energy in the arena, and feel like we’re gonna bring energy too, so it’s gonna be fun.”
Coit and Griffen will be vital in containing North Carolina’s guards. The Tar Heels have an impressive backcourt in RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeau, and Seth Trimble. Griffen said Kansas has good defenders to match up with North Carolina.
“It’s gotta start with us on the defensive end, because that's what, that's what most of their team, that's where they get their points, most of the time from their guards,” Griffen said. “So I know, like, Diggy is an elite defender. Zeke's a good defender. I feel like I can defend and AJ is a good defender. Juan's I've been a defensive player of the year, I think, nationally.”
Griffen added that the Tar Heels rely on their guards for a majority of their scoring.
“And I think we take the guards out, we have a really, really good chance of winning the game because I feel like that's where they get most of their points from the guards,” Griffen said.
The two feel prepared for the game because of their coaching. It’s an important game, but at Kansas, every game holds a special type of intensity.
“I feel like coach Self [is] a different type of coach,” Coit said. “Every day feels like a UNC game, like the intensity, like the standard he holds us to, but also the vets and where we’re trying to be and what we hold each other to and feel like every game is very important, high level. So it’s like, they don’t stress more one game or another, even though we know it’s bigger name-wise. But we gotta approach it the same way every day.”
