KU big man Udoka Azubuike has successful surgery Tuesday

By Matt Tait     Apr 4, 2017

Nick Krug
Kansas freshman forward Udoka Azubuike warms up prior to Tuesday's game against UMKC at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas freshman Udoka Azubuike, who suffered a season-ending injury to his left wrist last December, took another step toward recovery on Tuesday.

“Udoka had surgery today to remove the hardware, the screw, and it went well,” KU coach Bill Self told the Journal-World Tuesday night. “He’s gonna be very limited the next couple weeks. But then he’ll be right back into full rehab.”

The 7-foot freshman who started six of the 11 games he played in during the non-conference portion of KU’s schedule, damaged ligaments in the injured wrist during practice just before the Jayhawks’ road victory at UNLV and spent the rest of KU’s 31-5 season as an observer on the bench.

While wearing a couple of different casts on the left wrist, Azubuike remained as involved as he could with the team while working to build the strength back in his wrist. Tuesday’s surgery will result in a two-week break from most activities, but Self said the team was comfortable with the path the big man from Nigeria has been on since the injury.

“He’s been doing all kinds of rehab with his wrist and he’s been doing basketball activity,” Self said. “But just non-contact. We don’t expect him to have contact until June, but all indications are that he is right on schedule. He’s gotta take a couple weeks off from doing that stuff to allow the sutures to heal and that kind of stuff. After that, then he’s back on and we’ll become more aggressive with his rehab, but he’s still non-contact until June.”

Azubuike, whose size, height and length gave KU a different dimension in the front court, finished the season averaging 5.0 points and 4.4 rebounds in 12.9 minutes per game.

As long as the rehab continues to go well, Self said he could envision Azubuike’s minutes at least doubling next season.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.