Kansas University’s 6-foot-10 sophomore forward received an early wake-up call from coach Roy Williams, visited a doctor, had X-rays taken and watched as a cast was placed on his sprained right wrist.

“I didn’t have that much pain,” Gooden said. “Actually, it was getting better, but all they cared about was it getting better and they just wanted to keep it protected while the healing process was going on, and keep the wear and tear off of it all week.”

Gooden hurt the wrist in a fall during the Jayhawks’ 82-66 victory over Texas on Feb. 3, but he played 29 minutes against Iowa State on Monday and led the Jayhawks with 14 points.

Gooden thought his ailing wrist was improving during the week’s practices and, even though he had it looked at Friday, he expected to be wearing his uniform and playing Saturday instead of sitting at the end of the bench in a black suit.

“All last night I thought I was going to play,” Gooden said following the 77-61 win over OSU. “I took an MRI yesterday and they didn’t see nothing bad with it. but I guess they took the results into a wrist specialist and coach Williams called me this morning.”

Gooden said he was half-asleep when Williams called around 9:30 a.m. and didn’t realize who calling.

“I thought it was a doctor,” Gooden said. “He said, ‘We need to go see the doctor and I’m coming to pick you up so come outside and get ready,’ and I was like, ‘A doctor picking me up in the morning?’

“I said, ‘I dealt with you guys all day yesterday. I’ve got pre-game at 11. I’m not dealing with you guys today. Sorry, sir.’ I called him sir because I thought it was a doctor. Coach said, ‘This is coach Williams, Drew,'”

After the misunderstanding was cleared up, Williams gave Gooden a ride to the doctor to have the his wrist examined and, although X-rays showed no fractures, a decision was made to put it in a cast as a precautionary measure.

“No broken bones,” Gooden said, “but they’re so small that a bone might be bruised or have a fracture that might not show up for a week. This is basically just being cautious about my wrist. If I bang it up again the same way I did I might rupture my whole wrist.”

Gooden, who had led KU in scoring the past three games, wasn’t too perturbed not playing in the victory over OSU, but he did miss the competition.

“In the second half, it was (OK) because we were up and I knew we were going to pull off the win,” he said. “But just watching the mistakes we were making in the first half made me want to be out there so bad. Just knowing you’re not able to play and you can’t do anything about it is real frustrating.”

Gooden will also miss Monday night’s game at Baylor and next Saturday’s rematch against the Cyclones in Ames, Iowa.

On the Monday following the ISU game, Gooden’s cast will be removed and his wrist re-examined.