Bill Self gives update on Kansas Jayhawks’ health heading into West Virginia game
In the past, West Virginia has used a full-court press as an effective defensive weapon against Kansas in men’s basketball games played against the Jayhawks at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown where KU is 3-6 in the Bill Self era.
Kansas’ ability to attack any pressure that might come in Saturday’s 7 p.m. Central time game game against the Mountaineers (14-11, 3-9 Big 12) would, of course, be strengthened if injured point guards Bobby Pettiford and Remy Martin could share ballhandling duties with Dajuan Harris and Joseph Yesufu.
It seems Pettiford (abdominal strain) is expected to be available, while Martin (bone bruise, right knee) still hasn’t returned to practice and is expected to miss his sixth consecutive game on Saturday.
“Bobby is going to be available for us to play unless something happens in the next two practices,” Self said Thursday. Pettiford, a freshman, has averaged just 3.6 minutes a game while playing in six of KU’s 12 league games.
“His minutes will probably be limited. He’s not healthy, but it’s not a situation where he can hurt himself worse. He’s like Remy. It hurts to play. If we don’t have to play him we won’t. If we do we will. It’ll probably be in a limited capacity,” Self added.
Regarding Martin, a senior who has been working out on his own and not taking part in team drills since the Kentucky game on Jan. 29, Self said: “I really don’t know more other than the fact as of yesterday he told me he was definitely feeling better. He’s doing more on the court one-on-zero and maybe can get into some type of practices sometime soon. I still don’t see an immediate return for him based on Thursday the 17th.”
Another guard, Jalen Coleman-Lands, also figures to be available at West Virginia after missing the last game — Monday’s 76-62 win over Oklahoma State — because of a migraine headache.
“I think he’s fine,” Self said.
Self said he’d actually like to reduce the playing time of some of his players as the regular season hits the homestretch.
“I’d like to move the minutes down especially for two players, ‘Och’ (Ochai Agbaji) and Juan (Harris),” Self said. Agbaji has averaged 36.1 minutes a game while playing in 11 of 12 league contests. Harris has averaged 33.3 minutes in 12 league games.
“I personally think Jalen (Wilson, 32.3 minutes per game in 12 league games) and C.B. (Christian Braun, 36.1 mpg in 12 games) can play all day. I think Juan’s body type and ‘Och’s quick burst and effort and everything, I think it’s hard to play as many minutes even though ‘Och’ leads the Big 12 in minutes played.
“It’d be nice to reduce those some,” Self noted. “On the flip side, when you get in the postseason, I don’t want to say the bench is overrated because it’s not if you have injuries or foul problems, but guys can play longer in the postseason because timeouts are so long.
“We played Monday. With Saturday-Monday guys who played extra minutes, I didn’t let them do anything Tuesday or Wednesday. Today is the first day back. We should have fresh legs going into West Virginia,” Self added.
KU (21-4, 10-2) will return home to face Kansas State at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
