Hip pointer may be painful, but shouldn’t sideline Dotson at Oklahoma, KU’s Self says
Devon Dotson’s hip pointer figures to cause Kansas’ sophomore point guard some discomfort — some nagging pain — during upcoming practices and games.
But barring any additional setbacks, the 6-foot-2 Charlotte, North Carolina native should be able to play in the Jayhawks’ two road games this week — Tuesday at Oklahoma and Saturday at Texas, Jayhawks coach Bill Self said Monday.
“He’s playing. He’s playing,” Self said Monday, asked to provide Dotson’s official status heading into Tuesday’s 8 p.m. clash between No. 6-ranked KU (12-3, 2-1 Big 12) and the unranked Sooners (11-4, 2-1) at Lloyd Noble Center.
“It’s a hip pointer. He’s going to be sore regardless,” Self stated of Dotson, KU’s leading scorer (18.0 points per game) who was hurt in the first half of Saturday’s 67-55 home loss to Baylor.
“It’s not one of those things that’s threatening to make it where you can’t play, but certainly whenever you get it hit it can make it uncomfortable where you are thinking about it all the time. Certainly it’s very, very sore. He’s going to have to be mentally tough to get through that. He can do that.”
Asked if playing in games rather than resting the bruised hip could make the injury “linger,” Self said: “Every time he gets it hit it’s going to linger. It’s not something you sit for, according to the reports I’ve gotten (from medical staff). It is going to be sore. That’s not going away. But to say there’s risk of injuring it worse, I don’t believe that’s the case. It’d be like playing on a turned ankle (as junior Marcus Garrett has been doing of late). You can always retweak it. He’s tough. He’ll deal with it.”
KU trainer Bill Cowgill showed Self tape of Dotson incurring the injury versus Baylor.
“It was getting over a screen. He (Cowgill) thought that was the area because he did grab it (left hip) right after that,” Self said of Dotson. “Devon couldn’t remember specifically but it was bothering him late in the first half when he fumbled the ball, when I believe Christian (Braun) threw it to him. They (Bears) took the ball down and went and made a layup and he (Dotson) tried to run him (Bears player) down. There was no contact but that’s when he felt it. Anytime you move in any direction it puts pressure on and stretches that area and creates pain. We don’t think it was a big hit. We think it was something he got and now it’s been aggravated.”
On Tuesday night in a game televised by ESPN, KU will meet an OU team that opened league play with a 66-61 win over Kansas State on Jan. 4 in Norman, Oklahoma, and a 72-62 victory over Texas on Jan. 8 in Austin, Texas. On Saturday, OU lost at Iowa State, 81-68.
The Sooners are led by the high scoring trio of 6-foot-7 Kristian Doolittle (17.1 points per game), 6-5 Austin Reaves (15.9) and 6-9 Brady Manek (14.6).
“We’ve got to figure a way to guard all their guards, primarily Doolittle, Manek and Reaves,” Self said. Doolittle and Manek are listed as versatile forwards, while Reaves is listed as a guard on the OU roster.
Last year, Doolittle scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in OU’s 81-68 victory over KU at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma. It was the Sooners’ second straight home win over KU. KU’s David McCormack also had a big game that day with 18 points and five boards.
“I just played him to the best of my abilities and did what I could to help the team,” McCormack said of guarding Doolittle in last year’s game.
“Doolittle is strong, physical. He’s a good player. We have to do what we can to lock him up as well as we can and the rest of the team,” McCormack added Monday.
KU will be trying to bounce back quickly after Saturday’s setback to Baylor. The Jayhawks last lost two in a row last season, at Kentucky and at Texas in games Jan. 26 and 29. KU last lost two league games in a row in 2012-13 when the Jayhawks fell to Oklahoma State and TCU on Feb. 2 and Feb. 6. KU then lost a third straight game — to Oklahoma — on Feb. 9.
“Winning on the road is hard. It’s what makes Baylor’s week so impressive,” Self said of No. 2-ranked Baylor (13-1, 3-0) winning at No. 23 Texas Tech and No. 6 KU last week. “They still obviously have to go to some hard places, but to get through that first week in the manner they did is pretty impressive.”
Jalen Wilson update
KU freshman guard Jalen Wilson, who had surgery on his left ankle on Nov. 11, has “not practiced yet,” Self said Monday. “Maybe Bill (Cowgill) will let him do some half court stuff today. He (Wilson) has done a little bit more each day on the court. He’s a long ways away from actually going up and down,” Self added. Self has said he’s considering redshirting Wilson, though no final decision has been made on that matter.
Self is a Chiefs fan
Self watched some of the Chiefs’ 51-31 come-from-behind playoff victory over Houston on TV on Sunday.
“We were actually watching film that was supposed to last 30 minutes, which ended up lasting about an hour and 15 minutes,” Self said of KU-Baylor film study. “I wasn’t going to talk to them (his team), which ended up lasting 45 minutes. (So) I missed the first half.
“I guess there were two games within a half. Then of course I watched the second half. I don’t know who can stop us when we get on a roll like that,” he added of the Chiefs, who scored 28 points in a hurry to lead at halftime after falling in an early 24-0 hole.
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 3:42 PM.
