KU’s Perry Ellis expected to miss Oklahoma game with sprained knee

One day after clinching the outright Big 12 championship in an overtime victory over West Virginia, Kansas coach Bill Self declared his team a walking “MASH Unit” on Wednesday afternoon.

Self confirmed to The Star that junior power forward Perry Ellis will miss Saturday’s game at Oklahoma with a sprained knee, while sophomore Wayne Selden is recovering from a tweaked ankle. Neither could have practiced on Wednesday, which the Jayhawks used as a much-needed day of rest. Selden, who finished out the game on Tuesday, will likely be fine for Oklahoma.

For Kansas, the most pressing injury issue is Ellis, who has grown into a Big 12 player-of-the-year candidate while averaging 14.2 points and seven rebounds. Self said that Ellis’ knee felt “pretty good” on Wednesday after he suffered the sprain in the first half in the 76-69 overtime win over West Virginia. Ellis underwent an MRI on Tuesday, and Self is still hopeful that Ellis could return next week for the Big 12 tournament opener on Thursday at the Sprint Center. Still, there appears little reason to play Ellis against Oklahoma in the conference finale.

“He won’t play on Saturday,” Self said.

With Ellis expected out on Saturday, the Jayhawks’ frontcourt could be particularly thin. For now, Kansas is still awaiting word on the status of freshman forward Cliff Alexander, who has missed two games while the NCAA investigates a potential violation that could compromise his eligibility. Self said on Monday that he was hopeful the situation could be resolved by the end of the week, and he repeated that response on Wednesday.

If Ellis and Alexander are out on Saturday, the Jayhawks will face Oklahoma with just three scholarship players in the frontcourt: Juniors Jamari Traylor and Hunter Mickelson and sophomore Landen Lucas.

This story was originally published March 4, 2015 at 7:46 PM with the headline "KU’s Perry Ellis expected to miss Oklahoma game with sprained knee."