The Kansas basketball team was without star guard Kevin McCullar yesterday when they defeated Texas 86-67 in Allen Fieldhouse. The super senior reaggravated a bone bruise in his knee when he took the floor against Oklahoma. He was not able to practice all week despite a six-day rest between games.
McCullar has been banged up all season, missing four contests with his knee ailment. That number will increase to five when the Jayhawks take on BYU this Tuesday because Coach Self announced he would be absent against the Cougars.
Most Jayhawk fans did not expect him to suit up this week, but Self had some concerning words regarding McCullar and his injury status in his postgame press conference. The question is not when Self expects him back, but rather if he will come back at all.
“My concern is: Will he play again this year?” Self said. “It’s not a day-to-day deal; it’s a week-to-week deal. He obviously won’t go on Tuesday . I’m not going to put him out there because he’s missed so much time, even though you can look at games and number of games missed, but that’s not the story. The story is he played against OU and (before that) had two days of a little bit of practice and then played."
“The big thing is, I’d like to have for the postseason, where he’s in rhythm and our team has a chance to be the best it can be going into the second week of March,” he added later on. “But I’m hoping we get him back. It’s not anything that I’m thinking is going to happen tomorrow or Monday. I don’t think that at all.”
The injury that was supposed to keep him out for a few games has potentially become season-ending. It supposedly got worse when he played vs. Oklahoma.
If McCullar does not return this season, he will have played his last collegiate basketball game now that he is out of NCAA eligibility. He is a projected first-round NBA draft pick.