Kansas Jayhawks’ injury news ahead of key Big 12 basketball game at Baylor
The No. 5-ranked Kansas Jayhawks are about to enter a stretch of four games in eight days to close the 2021-22 regular season.
“I think it is a challenge without question, but it’s also the finish line, too,” KU men’s basketball coach Bill Self said Thursday at a news conference held in advance of Saturday’s 7 p.m. contest at No. 10-ranked Baylor.
The first game of the upcoming stretch could have huge league implications. KU (23-4, 12-2) can assure itself a tie for the Big 12 regular-season league crown as early as Saturday if the Jayhawks defeat the Bears (23-5, 11-4) and if Texas Tech (22-6, 11-4) loses at TCU.
Self in giving the usual injury updates Thursday indicated the four games in such a short period of time might be especially tough on senior power forward David McCormack, whose sore right foot limited him to 19 minutes in Tuesday’s 102-83 home victory over Kansas State.
“It’ll be tiresome,” Self said of the four games. “With somebody like David who has a sore foot, that’s where it could become an issue.”
McCormack, who had surgery on his right foot last spring, “aggravated” the injury in the opening minutes against the Wildcats, Self said.
“He wasn’t moving well at all,” Self said. “The more you watched him, he ran very awkwardly. He doesn’t always have the smoothest run, but certainly it was more awkward the other night.
“We think he’s fine,” Self added, “but he has a foot that we’ve known all along going into the season we’ve got to limit his reps and all that stuff. It’s late February. He is exactly what we thought he’d be right now. Hopefully we can get through this next four games … if we have to rest him in the Big 12 Tournament we’ll rest him. We just want him feeling as good as we possibly can going into the NCAA Tournament.”
In addition, Self said the 6-foot-10 McCormack hurt his knee “a couple weeks ago.”
“That is giving him problems too as far as swelling and stiffness,” Self said. “A lot of times Dave looks like an older man when he starts (running). The other night he looked like an old man. I asked him about it (injuries). He said, ‘Yeah I didn’t have it.’’’
Self said senior guard Remy Martin, who has missed the last seven games, was scheduled to practice Thursday. It seems like a return against Baylor is a possibility.
“With Remy’s situation I think he’s grounded enough to say, ‘I’m just going to do it (return) when I’m ready,’’’ Self said asked if returning for a home game or road contest would be a factor.
“I anticipate him practicing again today (as he has since late last week). I just don’t know what level or if he’ll be able to go full go. I anticipate him being out there.”
Self said he does not have a date in which Martin must return to game action or be ruled out for the postseason.
“I would say no,” Self said of a possible “drop-dead” date for a return, “because if you make a statement like that, Juan (Harris) has gotten two fouls the last three games in the first half. Even though he (Martin) may not be what he could be, or if he was healthy, he still may be the best ballhandler if the other team is pressing. There’s not a drop-dead date on him helping our team. I think it’s getting close to be a date that I’ll be more comfortable if I’m able to see him play before we get into postseason.”
Self recently inserted freshman forward Zach Clemence into the Oklahoma game despite the fact he had practiced just twice after more than a month on the sidelines because of a toe injury.
“Zach practiced twice. We said we had to play him. We put him in and he made a shot (three-pointer in second half). Well you don’t keep playing him in crunch time, even though I did, because he made one shot. You’d like to see him consistently doing well in all areas, not because he made one shot.
“That would be how I’d feel about Remy. You put him out there and he’s doing great. You say, ‘gosh he got an assist. He did this and that.’ Are you going to sit Juan on the bench when he’s done this all year long just to play (Martin)? What you hope would be a continuation of what just happened?
“That’s where I think the coaching part comes in from a trust standpoint. He needs to get out there so we can see him doing good things so we believe he should be doing those things at crunch time,” Self continued.
Meanwhile, freshman guard Bobby Pettiford, who has missed the last two games and played sparingly before that because of an abdominal strain, would not practice Thursday Self said.
Self said Pettiford continues to be bothered by the strain.
KU will play TCU at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Fort Worth, Texas, then have home games again against TCU on Thursday and Texas a week from Saturday.
