Kansas' Kevin McCullar Jr. to miss NCAA tournament with injury

Kansas’ Kevin McCullar Jr. to miss NCAA tournament with injury،

Jeff Borzello, ESPN editorMarch 19, 2024, 11:41 p.m.
Close
- Basketball Recruiting Insider.
- Joined ESPN in 2014.
- Graduated from the University of Delaware.

Kansas star Kevin McCullar Jr. will not play in the NCAA tournament, coach Bill Self said Tuesday.

McCullar missed six of the final 12 games of the season, including last week's Big 12 Tournament, while nursing a bone bruise in his knee.

“Kevin won’t play,” Self told reporters. “Kevin says his knee pain hasn't gone away and it's a shame for him to be able to contribute. So Kevin won't play. We're stopping him for the tournament.

“Basically, he hasn't trained in six weeks. He hasn't done any more damage to his knee. But he tried to. [to play] and said he just couldn't go.

McCullar, in a post on later Tuesday, he said he was “more devastated than anyone” about not being able to play.

“I did everything I could have done to get back to playing at a high level and help my team,” McCullar said in his message. “This included 6-7 hours a day with the Kansas practice squad for over a month now, not participating in practice but participating in games. Although I tried various treatment options, this just wasn’t where you needed to be to play.”

A 6-foot-7 senior who played the first three seasons of his career at Texas Tech before spending his final two at Kansas, McCullar was one of the biggest stars in the country. He averaged 18.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists en route to earning first-team All-Big 12 honors.

Before the conference tournament, Self said McCullar and teammate Hunter Dickinson – who suffered a dislocated shoulder in the regular season finale – should be available to practice this week in preparation for the conference tournament. the NCAA.

While McCullar is out, Dickinson is ready to play.

“Hunt looks great,” Self said. “He's practiced almost every day since Saturday. No contact. The last two days have been full contact.”

Dickinson, a transfer from Michigan, averaged 18.0 points and 10.8 rebounds this season. He also earned first-team All-Big 12 honors.

Kansas, which earned the No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, will face 13th-seeded Samford on Thursday.