Kansas University’s men’s basketball team will have to survive without Wayne Simien a little while longer.
KU’s 6-foot-9, 255-pound sophomore power forward from Leavenworth, who has missed the last seven games because of a dislocated right shoulder, won’t play Saturday at Nebraska or Monday at home against Missouri, KU coach Roy Williams said Thursday.
“We are still hanging in there and waiting to see what happens,” Williams said. “It’s discouraging for him as it is for all of us, but he will not play this weekend.
“There’s not a magic wand to wave around him. I’ve tried clapping my hands like Mr. Miyagi and rub them together, but that hasn’t worked, either,” Williams quipped, referring to the movie “The Karate Kid” in which guru Mr. Miyagi enacted a miracle cure on pupil Daniel LaRusso.
Williams’ pupil, Simien, has taken part in scrimmaging at practice.
“We’ve tried to stick him in a play or two. He’s been able to do some of it,” Williams said. “At the same time, he’s not ready to play.”
Williams said pain was a factor in Simien’s recuperation.
“I think it’s a lot of things,” Williams said. “He’s fine conditioning-wise. It hasn’t hurt his running a bit.”
Simien averaged 15.9 points and 8.7 rebounds in 12 games before dislocating his shoulder in the opening minutes of the Jayhawks’ game Jan. 4 against UMKC at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.
His replacement in the starting lineup, Jeff Graves, has averaged 4.9 points and 5.7 boards the last seven games.
“Wayne is coming around great,” Graves said. “He’s practicing a little bit, but not much. Sometimes you can tell he’s favoring his right side or something like that. We’re usually on the same team. Everybody else will be like, ‘Watch out for his shoulder.'”
Simien suffered a minor setback last week when he tweaked his shoulder on a dunk at practice, but KU’s big man said he was itching to play.
“You can tell in his eyes he wants to be in there so bad,” Graves said. “He’s … gritting his teeth. Whenever he comes back we’ll be that much stronger.”
Sophomore guard Michael Lee agreed.
“Not having Wayne hurts a great deal,” Lee said. “Sometimes you see situations where you say, ‘Well, we wish we had Wayne in that situation because he probably would have made that shot or pulled down that rebound.’ He’s not there right now. We have to go with what we’ve got.”
Simien was not available for comment Thursday.