LAWRENCE, Kan. — Bill Self, who passed Phog Allen in men’s basketball coaching victories at tradition-rich Kansas last Tuesday, can claim yet another milestone victory a week after the Jayhawks’ 77-69 win over Michigan State in Atlanta.

Self, KU’s 22nd-year head coach, has compiled a 799-248 record in 32 seasons at Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois and Kansas heading into Tuesday’s nonconference contest against UNCW.

Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse with a livestream available on ESPN+.

“No,” Self said Monday, asked if victory No. 800 would be more special than any other round-number coaching victory in his Hall of Fame career. “That’ll be something that whenever it happens I’ll think about it for at least three to five minutes and then we’ll go on to the next deal.”

KU senior center Hunter Dickinson dumped a cooler of water on Self and several other players poured individual bottles of water on their coach’s head after the 61-year-old Self claimed his 591st coaching victory at the blue blood school last week. Allen, the previous leader in all-time KU wins, went 590-219 in 39 seasons in Lawrence.

“I had a buddy of mine — you guys know Rohde (John, longtime Oklahoma City writer) — he said, ‘What’s the big deal? Good gosh, you’ve already won 800,’ ’’ Self said with a smile.

“I said, ‘Well, they took a few away,’” Self added of the NCAA on Oct. 11, 2023, stripping KU of 15 victories for a recruiting violation involving Silvio De Sousa.

“I’m being dead serious I don’t even know, nobody’s told me when that even happens,” he added of 800 possibly occurring as soon as Tuesday. “Of course, nobody told me they were putting a banner up there the other night, either.”

A banner honoring Self was hung in the south rafters of the fieldhouse in a ceremony before Friday’s 78-57 victory over Oakland.

Self said he doesn’t save the basketballs signifying his round-number coaching victories. Victory No. 700 came on Feb. 8, 2020, when KU defeated TCU 60-46 in Fort Worth, Texas.

“They gave me a game ball after the game against Michigan State,” Self said. Indeed KU Chancellor Douglas Girod and AD Travis Goff were on hand in Atlanta to present Self with a commemorative ball after the win over the Spartans.

“I even had a guy come down and ask me, ‘Do you want the (actual) game ball (after MSU game)?’ ” Self recalled. “I said, ‘No why would I want a game ball?’ I’ve got enough balls in my office so I don’t need that one.”

It all started for Self at Oral Roberts where he went 55-54 from the 1993-94 season through 1996-97.

“We started out 6-6 my first year. We lost every game to end the season (15 in a row), and then we lost the first three to start the next season (for total of 18 straight losses). I don’t know if that’s ever been done … somebody’s won 800 games and lost 18 in a row during a stretch. But I’ve accomplished that,” Self said.

“When I used to do (coaching) clinics all the time I’d ask everybody, ‘Has anybody here lost 18 games in a row?’ There’d always be three people raise their hand. I said, ‘Has anybody lost more than 18 and there would always be one person that raised their hand or two.

“I said, ‘Good, I just want to know who’s the worst coach next to me in the building before we get started.’ That was a different element back then (at ORU), a different animal, and one that I learned so much being a part of. And you know, your mistakes weren’t magnified near as much as they are obviously coaching at Kansas. But that was great for me. That was one good thing about being at Oral Roberts. I screwed up a lot of things, but the media really did never talk about (the losing streak) nor did your fan base. Out of the 75 season ticket holders we had not too many people were obsessed with that. A lot of good things came from it though.”

Oral Roberts went 6-21 his first year, 10-17 his second, then had outstanding seasons of 18-9 and 21-7. Self went 74-27 three seasons at Tulsa and 78-24 three seasons at Illinois prior to his current 592-143 at KU.

“I would say coach Sutton (Eddie, his mentor from Oklahoma State) and of course my father (Bill Sr.) … I talked to them about it,” Self said of the early ORU stretch of losses. “I made the joke … you know at ORU, they had on the baseline, they had the saying, ‘Expect a miracle.’ Coach Sutton told me, ‘You need to wipe that off. You need to put, ‘It’s going to take a miracle.’ Instead. It turned out great. That same group at ORU that lost 18 in a row won 31 of 38 and we beat Arkansas, Tulsa and Oklahoma State, two of them coming off Final Fours. So it turned out to be a pretty good run.”

Self when he hits 800 will become the 16th coach overall and third active coach to reach 800. Arkansas’ John Calipari and Tennessee’s Rick Barnes have more than 800 wins.

“It means I’m old and it means I’ve had a lot of really good players,” Self said after passing Allen on the KU all-time wins list. “We’re proud about that. Phog Allen is still going to be the all-time best coach at Kansas.”

Mike Krzyzewski is college basketball’s winningest men’s coach with 1,202 victories at Duke and Army.

Self was asked how much longer he’d like to coach.

“I actually hope to do it a while longer. Times are different though. Times are different,” Self said. “I used to look at it and I’ve got a dear friend to talk to me about this all the time … you kind of look at life at five-year increments. I’m not sure it’s five years anymore, maybe two or three and then decide what you do after those year increments.

“I like our team and I’m very excited about our recruiting class moving forward. I don’t have an answer but I know I’m on the back 9. I don’t know if I’m on 13 or 16. I’m not on 18.”

Bill Self coaching milestones

— Win No. 1: Oral Roberts 78, Sam Houston State 66 on Nov. 26, 1993 at ORU

— No. 100: Tulsa 100, Georgia State 73 on Nov. 24, 1999 at Tulsa

— No. 200: Illinois 73, Northwestern 61 on Feb. 22, 2003 at Illinois

— No. 300: Kansas 94, Missouri 74 on Feb. 10, 2007 at MU

— No. 400: Kansas 73, Iowa State 69 on Feb. 13, 2010 at KU

— No. 500: Kansas 108, Iowa State 96, OT on Feb. 25, 2013 at ISU

— No. 600: Kansas 105, UMKC 62 on Dec. 6, 2016 at KU

— No. 700: Kansas 60, TCU 46 on Feb. 8, 2020 at TCU.

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