ISU star Kane a game-time decision against Kansas

By Benton Smith     Jan 13, 2014

1:34 p.m. Update:

Iowa State guard DeAndre Kane Tweeted this afternoon a photograph of his ankle receiving treatment with the accompanying message: “Ankle feeling good.”

While that hardly represents a definitive statement about whether he will or will not play tonight, the mere fact that his injured right ankle is feeling good is a strong indication that the standout senior at least is planning to give it a go.

Our KUsports.com crew is en route to Ames, Iowa, right now and will bring you the latest on Kane as soon as it becomes available.

Original Post:

The availability of Iowa State men’s basketball senior guard DeAndre Kane remains up in the air hours before the No. 8 Cyclones play host to No. 15 Kansas at Hilton Coliseum, in Ames, Iowa.

ISU coach Fred Hoiberg said Monday morning during the Big 12 teleconference that Kane, who suffered a sprained left ankle in the final minute of the Cyclones’ 87-82 loss at Oklahoma on Saturday, did not practice Sunday and will be re-evaluated today before the 8 p.m. game versus KU.

“I’ve been messaging with him this morning, and he’ll be in soon for treatment to see where things stand,” Hoiberg said before 11 a.m. Monday. “Obviously, he wakes up sore, and that’s to be expected. It’s always gonna be a little bit worse in the morning, after sleeping on it. But we’ll see.”

Hoiberg said Kane, who averages 16.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists, will test the ankle at today’s shoot-around.

“We’ll see if he can run on it and, more importantly, see if he can cut on it,” the coach said. “But, again, we’ll take a cautious approach with this one. We’ve got a lot of season left after tonight’s game.”

Hoiberg, impressed with the Jayhawks’ road win over Oklahoma and their home victory against Kansas State, said KU is playing as well as any team in the country right now. The Cyclones (14-1 overall, 2-1 Big 12), coming off their first loss of the season, will have to adjust against Kansas (11-4, 2-0) if Kane can’t play. Hoiberg said Monté Morris, a backup freshman guard, will have the ball in his hands if Kane is unavailable.

“He’s done a really good job of taking care of the ball, making good, safe plays and initiating the offense for us,” Hoiberg said of Morris, who averages 6.3 points and 2.9 assists.

Additionally, Hoiberg said Iowa State’s bigs will have to be play-makers if the Cyclones’ best all-around player is in street clothes.

“We’ll try to do the best job we can,” Hoiberg said.

Kansas coach Bill Self knows his team will have its hands full tonight against the Cyclones.

“They’ve been terrific,” Self said on the teleconference. “Fred has done an unbelievable job. Their defense is under 40 percent (39.3), I believe, overall field-goal percentage defense, they’ve played a nice schedule and they’ve had newcomers that have made such a huge difference.

“Matt Thomas has been solid for them, obviously, in a freshman role and produced pretty well. And then (Melvin) Ejim and (Georges) Niang have been better coming back and been terrific. But (DeAndre) Kane and (Dustin) Hogue have been awesome. You’re looking at a guy (Kane) that arguably could be the front-runner for player of the year in the league with the type of performances so far, and a guy that’s as good a rebounder from his spot as any kid in the country in Hogue,” the 11th-year Kansas coach said of his team’s opponents.

“And their bench shoots it,” Self added. “They’ve got a nice team. Fred does such a good job of giving them freedom offensively. They play with a free mind, and if I wasn’t playing them I’d say they’re definitely one of the more fun teams to watch play.”

While the Big 12 has its share of difficult road venues — Self acknowledged Oklahoma State and Kansas State in that category — Iowa State is at the top of that list, too, and Self said tonight’s game at Hilton Coliseum (with 14,384 seats) figures to be as good an atmosphere as Kansas will play in on the road this season.

The KU coach stressed that he wants the Jayhawks to enjoy the scene and he hopes it will foster a more intense focus and a tighter huddle.

“I’m excited to see how our guys react,” Self said. “It’s never easy when you’re on the road, and as good as the crowd’s gonna be, it’s their five guys that can all stretch it from the three-point line that concerns me more than the crowd.”

The KU coach called ISU a terrific team and said it will take a great effort for Kansas to improve to 3-0 in the Big 12.

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