The Kansas Jayhawks, with Winona Lake native and SMU point guard Nic Moore on the roster, picked up the intensity in practice in a high school gym without air conditioning in Gwangju, South Korea. The Jayhawks are representing the U.S. and are preparing for the World University Games basketball opener against Turkey on Friday. With each team limited to one hour of time in the gym, the Jayhawks did their warmup drills in the street while Serbia finished up its practice. “It was good,” Moore said to Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World reporter Bobby Nightengale. “Just a little hour. Try to get our sweat up and work out. I mean, guys are still trying to get to used to the time change and all that. But we just need to get out here and have fun. My role on the team is just be a leader, get guys hyped and have fun, you know what I mean.” Moore was celebrating his 23rd birthday on Wednesday. He didn’t have plans to do anything special, but was happy to enjoy the day with his new teammates. “It’s an honor, man,” Moore said. “To be able to play in the University World Games in a whole different country. I mean, I’m blessed. I don’t have no complaints spending my birthday over here. I like doing things like this, going into a new culture and just living life with no worries and just having fun. “It’s always fun to get birthday wishes and hang out with the guys and stuff. I kind of wish I was with my family, but I’m doing something that I love, so I’m not mad.” The practice wasn’t without a setback for the team. Freshman Carlton Bragg broke his nose about halfway through practice. Head coach Bill Self said Bragg wasn’t expected to miss any games, and will wait until they get home to have surgery to straighten his nose. The Jayhawks will scrimmage against China at 5 p.m. Thursday at a different local high school to avoid the slippery court at Gwangju High. “I think it’ll be good,” Self said. “I think it’ll be great for us to kind of give us an idea of where we are. Playing Canada in Kansas City, it was so comfortable. Here it’s not as comfortable, you have different surroundings. So hopefully guys will react well. But we have to find a court that we can play on that we can actually play without somebody getting injured because of how slick it is.” All the Kansas/USA games will be on ESPNU. Friday’s opener with Turkey is set to tip off at 11 p.m. Eastern time.
