Kansas’ Svi Mykhailiuk ready to translate summer work to the floor

LAWRENCE, Kan. On a morning in July, as his teammates ventured to the other side of the world, Svi Mykhailiuk found himself alone in the KU weight room, a solitary figure amidst the spacious rows of squat racks and bench presses. On most days, Mykhailiuk says, he was joined by KU strength coach Andrea Hudy, who was recast as a personal trainer while the Kansas men’s basketball program was in South Korea for the World University Games.

Mykhailiuk, a sophomore guard from Ukraine, wasn’t eligible to play for KU, which was representing the United States at the tournament. But he did not mind the quiet back in Lawrence. When he was not working with Hudy, he was in the Jayhawks’ practice facility, sweating through basketball workouts with Maksym Mikhelson, a Ukrainian basketball coach who spent a month in Lawrence with his former pupil.

Mikhelson once coached Mykhailiuk during his days with a club team in Cherkasy, Ukraine. For a few weeks this summer, they reconnected over old drills and long workouts.

“I can tell he put in the extra work,” said Kansas guard Frank Mason, who was busy helping the Jayhawks win gold while Mykhailiuk toiled back on campus.

Two months later, Mykhailiuk is back with his teammates as Kansas began its annual preseason “Boot Camp” a week of early morning sprints and grueling workouts on Sunday morning. Two days into Boot Camp, Mykhailiuk said he already felt more comfortable than last year, when he was a 17-year-old freshman, still adjusting to the quirks of life in America.

Mykhailiuk, who is listed at 6 feet 8, says he weighs close to 207 now, up 17 pounds from his playing weight of 190 last season. He is more comfortable with the language, too more conversational, less nervous, and more likely to engage with his teammates and in his classes.

“I’ve learned some slang words and academic words,” Mykhailiuk said.

More than that, though, Mykhailiuk said he is more comfortable with his place in the Kansas program. A year ago, he entered the fall as something of a teenage mystery. He was barely 17 years old. He had been to the United States just twice before arriving on campus in the summer. He was new to a basketball program and acclimating himself to a culture. In that context, his debut season appears reasonable maybe even impressive.

You might remember, of course, that Mykhailiuk earned a starting spot in November before spending most of Big 12 play on the bench. He averaged 2.8 points in 11.2 minutes per game and shot just 30.6 percent from the floor, including 29 percent from 3-point range. He now feels he is ready to do more.

“With the team, I’ve been here for one year,” Mykhailiuk said. “So I know how everything is going, how things are working. I know the coaches and what they want from me. I know what they want from the team.”

In the offseason, Mykhailiuk set out to add strength and bulk to his frame, but he also wanted to refine his jumper. Entering college, his shooting ability was thought to be a strength. But for myriad reasons, Mykhailiuk never found a consistent rhythm as a freshman. This summer was about correcting that.

Mason calls Mykhailiuk the kind of player who will put up “unlimited shots throughout the night.” KU players are welcome to use their practice facility, which sits adjacent to Allen Fieldhouse, late into the night. Mykhailiuk is the kind player who will test the limits of that late-night policy.

“Svi has been working hard since he’s been here,” Mason said, “working on every aspect of his game.”

On Monday, 18 days remained before Kansas’ kicks off its season at Late Night in the Phog at Allen Fieldhouse. Mykhailiuk is still trying to figure out where he stands in a crowded backcourt with Mason, Devonte’ Graham and Wayne Selden. There will be time for that. But for the moment, as the offseason drags into its final weeks, Mykhailiuk feels good about how far he’s come thus far.

“I know,” he said, “how I can help the team.”

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