Kansas Jayhawks’ Mitch Lightfoot practices on a limited basis with his sprained knee
Kansas senior backup forward Mitch Lightfoot practiced on a limited basis Tuesday and is listed as “day-to-day” as preparation continues for Thursday night’s first-round NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional game.
KU men’s basketball coach Bill Self indicated Tuesday afternoon that Lightfoot would not have played had there been a game Tuesday. Yet Self is hopeful the 6-foot-8 Lightfoot, who sprained his left knee in the second half of Saturday’s Big 12 Tournament final against Texas Tech, will be available Thursday night when the Jayhawks meet either Texas A&M-Corpus Christi or Texas Southern at 8:57 p.m. at Dickies Arena.
“He’s showing great progress,” Self told a group of media members gathered outside the Hilton Fort Worth Hotel in downtown Fort Worth. The Hilton is KU’s team headquarters for first- and second-round games.
“From what Bill (Cowgill, trainer) tells me, and the docs tell me, he’s going to do everything he possibly can to play,” Self said.
“I know Mitch … six years you are not going to sit out your last tournament. The question is not if he plays I think moving forward. I think the question is, will he be healthy enough to play on Thursday? We are not going to put him out there if he’s in jeopardy. We’ll wait and see how he feels. If we played today he wouldn’t have played, but he’s made such good progress each day, so he thinks he’ll be ready to go by Thursday. We’ll see. He’s day-to-day, and we’re not going to put him in jeopardy,” Self added.
Self said freshmen forwards KJ Adams and Zach Clemence had taken some reps with the Blue team, the starters, this week.
“They got more reps on the Blue team than they normally would, but it’s not like first-team reps all the time,” Self said, noting the team practiced “hard” for 90 minutes Tuesday before flying to Fort Worth where the team will practice and meet the media Wednesday.
Self said the players are “doing great. We’ve got pep in our step after Kansas City (winning Big 12 tourney) and watching the Selection Show (Sunday) like everybody else. Even though it’s a short season, this is by far the most important season. It could last all of 40 minutes or run three weeks if you get lucky. Our guys are excited and light on their feet now,” Self added.
Self said the Jayhawks would eat a steak dinner at a downtown Fort Worth restaurant Tuesday night, then meet and hold their first meeting regarding their first-round foe. Texas Southern and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi tipped off at 5:40 p.m., Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.
“I have no problem with that,” Self said of the Jayhawks watching NCAA Tournament games on TV in the hotel this week. “That’s like, ‘Hey guys, go to your room, but don’t turn it on this channel.’ They are going to watch TV. That’s one thing I don’t think is great, playing that late game. You watch everybody else sweat all day long. Sometimes that adds a little pressure to that last game.”
