LAWRENCE — The eagerness in Zach Clemence’s voice seemed clear earlier this month, as he met with reporters amid the Kansas basketball offseason.

Clemence might have said his mindset is the same this year as it was the previous, when it’d been decided he’d redshirt the 2023-24 season. He might have said he approached every practice this past season as if he was going to play, and that it went quickly. But he also acknowledged that temptation to pull the redshirt and play lingered every game, especially with the depth issues the Jayhawks experienced last season.

Clemence, a forward who redshirted during what would have been his junior year, is looking ahead to a season he’s going to have a role in. What role that is for Kansas will be determined in time. But the Jayhawks are going to need him in order to chase the Big 12 Conference and national success they have the potential to achieve.

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Here are a few things to think about as Clemence continues to develop during the offseason:

Zach Clemence sees holistic improvement in himself

Clemence had a limited role during his first two seasons at Kansas. As a freshman on the national championship team, he played in 24 games and averaged 4.9 minutes per game. As a sophomore, the next year, he played in 20 games and averaged 5.6 minutes per game.

According to Clemence, in the last year he’s been able to improve holistically — as a teammate and a player. This offseason, he’s continuing that development by working on dribbling and shooting.

There is an area of his game Zach Clemence feels he’s improved the most

Clemence highlighted it’s been great to have all the new additions arrive on campus, and that they’ve looked good. He’s enjoyed being able to compete against them. He described freshman forward Flory Bidunga as an athletic talent who’s long and can dunk.

Building chemistry with Bidunga and all of the other newcomers will take all of the things Clemence has talked about, when it comes to how he’s improved his game. But there’s one area above all he feels he’s improved the most. Clemence said that quality is learning how to play without the ball.

Zach Clemence has high aspirations for his next 2 seasons

Clemence has already helped Kansas accomplish a lot during his Jayhawks career. In addition to the national championship during the 2021-22 season, Kansas won the Big 12’s regular season and conference titles that season. In the 2022-23 season, Kansas won the Big 12 regular season championship again.

But Clemence isn’t resting on being a part of those successful campaigns. He’s looking forward to two more great years with the Jayhawks. Looking back, he called the decision to redshirt to set himself up for this run the best thing he could have done.

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Zach Clemence is eager to play for KU basketball after redshirting