KU coach Bill Self says point guard Devon Dotson OK to play Tuesday at Oklahoma

By Matt Tait     Jan 13, 2020

Nick Krug
Kansas Jayhawks guard Devon Dotson (1) leaves the game with an injury early in the second half on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020 at Allen Fieldhouse. Dotson later returned to the game.

Kansas coach Bill Self said Monday that sophomore point guard Devon Dotson will play Tuesday night at Oklahoma.

Dotson, who missed about 10 minutes of Saturday’s loss to Baylor at Allen Fieldhouse, suffered a hip pointer to his left hip during the first half of KU’s loss.

The Jayhawks did not practice on Sunday, but Self said Dotson would be in the starting lineup on Tuesday.

“It’s a hip pointer,” Self reiterated. “So it’s going to be sore regardless. But it’s not one of those things that’s threatening to make it where you can’t play. But certainly, whenever you get it hit, it can make it uncomfortable where you’re thinking about it all the time. So he’s going to have to be mentally tough to get through that, but he can do that.”

Self said the team’s medical staff had pinpointed a play in the first half of the Baylor game, when Dotson tried to go over a screen on defense, as the moment the injury may have occurred.

“He did grab it right after that,” Self said. “But Devon couldn’t remember specifically (when it happened).”

Self said the first time Dotson felt the injury came after a KU turnover, when he was chasing a Baylor guard down in the open floor on his way to a layup at the other end.

“There’s no contact, but that’s when he felt it,” Self said. “Any time that you move in any direction it certainly puts pressure and stretches that area and can create pain. So we don’t think it was a big, big hit or a blow; we just think it’s something that he got, and now it’s just been aggravated.”

Although Self said Dotson’ injury — and, more specifically, the pain caused by it — likely would be an issue “every time he gets hit,” the KU coach noted that this particular injury is not typically a reason that a player would sit out.

“According to the reports I’ve gotten (from team medical personnel), it’s going to be sore,” Self said. “That’s not going away. But to say that there’s a risk of injuring it worse, I don’t believe that’s the case. … He’s tough. He’ll deal with it.”

Added KU forward David McCormack, when asked Monday how his teammate looked: “With film, we had walk-through and things like that and not much was bothering him.”

No. 6 Kansas (12-3 overall, 2-1 Big 12) will face Oklahoma (11-4, 2-1) at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla. The game will be televised on ESPN.

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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.