Ben McLemore models his game after Paul Pierce and LeBron James.

“Junior year in high school, I went to LeBron James’ camp and to Paul Pierce’s camp,” McLemore said. “First time meeting Paul Pierce, watching his footwork and style of play, I said, ‘That’s how I play. That’s my game.’ I started moving in slow motion just like him, told myself, ‘I need to imitate his game and see how far I can go with this.’

“My senior year in high school, I tried to put those two (Pierce and James) together and play my game of basketball,” McLemore added. “I have the same mind-set of both players, and I try to put them together as me.”

McLemore also has studied LeBron’s game.

“He’s such a great player, offensively and defensively, giving 110 percent every night,” McLemore said. “He’s just aggressive every night. He’s 6-8, what, 250? And he’s so quick on his feet. Awesome player. I really like his game. He’s always in attack mode. He’s strong, and he’s fast, and he’s ready to play every time.”

Ben McLemore is shooting 68.8 percent over his last four games on catch-and-shoot jumpers, a 39.6 percent increase over his first six games of the season.

McLemore has connected on 11 of his last 16 catch-and-shoot attempts, with the vast majority being uncontested.

In his first six games, McLemore was guarded on two-thirds of his catch-and-shoot jumpers and often misfired, making just 7-of-24 attempts.

McLemore is a projected lottery pick on some boards.

Kansas and Georgetown have expressed interest in acquiring former UCLA center Joshua Smith, according to people close to the situation.

Smith is reportedly interested in transferring to Washington, but it’s unikely he’ll be able to transfer within the Pac-12 Conference.

Smith quit the UCLA basketball program on Nov. 28, citing unspecified personal reasons.

Bill Self expects Perry Ellis to become a bigger part of Kansas’ rotation in the coming weeks.

“Perry’s minutes are gonna continue to go up if he just stays aggressive,” Self said, “and (he) keeps trying to get out of his comfort zone to be aggressive.”

Self would like Ellis to get to a point where he’s playing with a free mind — and not thinking as much.

“Most freshmen think too much,” Self said. “But he cares, he’s conscientious. The best athletes are the ones that have no memory, the ones that don’t think.

“I don’t know if that’s exactly how you raise your child. To (not) think, and don’t have a memory, and ‘I can’t remember anything bad I ever did.’ But if you can raise your child where they remember that, and somehow when they get between the lines they automatically forget, those are the best guys.”

Defending opposing guards has a been a problem through the first quarter of the season for the Kansas Jayhawks, who have allowed big games to Keith Appling (19 points), Farad Cobb (21 points), Jay Kinney (30 points) and Ahmad Starks (25 points).

“That’s something that obviously has got to improve or we’ll have to change how we play,” Self said. “We’ll have to start playing some zone or whatnot.”

Self has tried moving Elijah Johnson off the ball and using Travis Releford against the other team’s primary ballhandler, but has yet to find a combination that consistently works.

Johnson underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in April.

“I learned a long time ago, if you’re out there, you’ve got to perform,” Self said earlier this week. “There’s nothing structurally wrong. If he doesn’t quite have the same pop that he had before, then he shouldn’t be out there, because if you’re out there, we expect it.”

Stephen Clark signed a national letter of intent to play college basketball at Oklahoma State.

“I've been waiting on this day for the longest,” Clark said Friday afternoon. “Me and my mom have been stressing through the whole process. We slowed everything down and narrowed it down to figure out where I'm going to school.

“This will make it a lot easier to focus on making myself a better basketball player and buckling down in the classroom to make sure I finish the year with all A's.”

Clark, a 5-foot-11 point guard who is considered a top-70 player in the class of 2013, chose the Cowboys over Baylor and UCLA.

Le'Bryan Nash wants to lead the NCAA in free throw attempts after proving through five games he can get to the rim and draw fouls.

Nash is averaging 9.6 foul shots per game, which ranks fourth nationally.

“I'm trying to lead the NCAA in free-throw attempts,” Nash said. “I'm just taking what the defense gives me. And I'm playing with my teammates. My teammates give me the ball in good situations, and when you have a scoring mentality, then defenses can't stop you. All they can do is foul you.”

Nash is connecting on 85.4 percent of his free throw attempts, a 12.4 percent improvement over his freshman season.

“I'm glad to hear him say that, about leading the country in free throws, because it's something he and I have talked a lot about,” Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said. “He should be shooting 10 or 11 free throws a game. And he can make eight or nine of those. That tells me, if he's getting to the foul line, not only is he getting points, it tells me his mind is right. Because he's playing to his strengths.”

Andrew Wiggins will visit Florida State from Dec. 4-5, Huntington Prep coach Rob Fulford confirmed.

“He’s going to Florida State, I think Tuesday morning,” Fulford said after Wiggins scored 29 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, blocked five shots and recorded five assists in a 76-59 win over Memphis East on Friday. “He’s going down for the Florida game [Wednesday].”

Both of Wiggins' parents -- former NBA player Mitchell Wiggins and former Canadian Olympic track star Marita Payne-Wiggins -- attended Florida State.

“I like to see everything that happened there with my parents,” Wiggins said of FSU. “It would be a joy to go there, I mean great weather. Great people, great education. Great coaching staff. they make players better. They don’t always get the best players in the nation, or top five or top ten, but they develop four-year players to get ready for the NBA.”

Fulford said Wiggins would also like to visit Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina.

“He’s said he wants to go to Florida State, Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina,” he said. “Those are the ones he said he wants to visit. Timeframe, we don’t know. I mean obviously we just don’t have a ton of weekends available for visits. I know he’s going to take this one because his parents can come, but yeah, he said he wants to take at least those four.”