Kansas notes: Brannen Greene suspended for ‘not being very responsible’

Sophomore wing Brannen Greene was suspended on Saturday for reasons that Kansas coach Bill Self termed as “the culmination of him not being very responsible.”

Self did not expand on the reasons, but Greene’s absence left a short-handed KU roster even more depleted. Junior forward Perry Ellis sat out because of a sprained right knee, and freshman forward Cliff Alexander stayed in Lawrence while an NCAA investigation into his eligibility continued.

While Saturday’s 75-73 loss did not mean much after Kansas clinched the Big 12 title earlier in the week, Self said that didn’t influence his decision to suspend Greene.

“If we’re playing for the championship today, he still would have been suspended,” Self said after the game. “So it didn’t have anything to do with that we had already clinched.”

Self stopped short of saying that Greene’s suspension would last just one game, but he hoped he would be able to return for the Big 12 tournament.

“Hopefully,” Self said, “he’ll get his head on right.”

▪ Self said Ellis’ sprained right knee would be re-evaluated on Tuesday. If Ellis is not healthy for the Big 12 Tournament, Self said he wouldn’t hesitate to rest him again.

“If Perry is not ready, we’ll rest him anyway,” Self said. “It would be nice (to have a week off). But guys want to play. You want to play in your conference tournament.”

▪ Kansas, the No. 1 seed, will open the Big 12 tournament at 1:30 p.m.Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 8 seed K-State and No. 9 TCU.

First half

▪ Key play: With Kansas trailing 27-16 with 5 minutes left, Frank Mason hit a three-pointer that helped the Jayhawks close the gap to 32-30 at halftime.

▪ Key stat: KU had 14 offensive rebounds.

Second half

▪ Key play: Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield scored on a putback with 0.2 seconds left for the game-winner.

▪ Key stat: Oklahoma had 18 total offensive rebounds.

This story was originally published March 7, 2015 at 9:20 PM with the headline "Kansas notes: Brannen Greene suspended for ‘not being very responsible’."