Kansas University freshman David Padgett winced in terrible pain as he exited the court after spraining his right ankle in the second half of Sunday’s victory over Oklahoma.
“It kind of reminded me of the time Kirk went down against Holy Cross, the kind of pain he was in,” KU junior Keith Langford recalled of former Jayhawk Kirk Hinrich, who hurt his ankle in a first-round NCAA Tournament game two years ago, but was able to return for the second game.
Like Hinrich, Padgett — who went down after getting tangled with OU’s Johnnie Gilbert with 9:46 left in KU’s 79-58 victory — was diagnosed with an ankle sprain, not a break.
His left ankle has shown early signs of a stress fracture.
“X-rays are negative. It’s not broken,” KU coach Bill Self said. “He can’t put any pressure on it yet. Hopefully he’ll be able to go Wednesday (against Nebraska), but sometimes those bad sprains are as bad as a break.”
It sounds as if only an incredibly quick recovery could get Padgett back for Nebraska.
“I imagine we’ll tape it and spit on it and tell him he’s OK,” Self quipped, asked what the Jayhawks will do for a severe sprain. “A lot of people miss time with ankle sprains. I told him he had the rest of the day off and be ready to go tomorrow.
“That won’t happen,” he added of Padgett practicing today. “He’ll probably be out for a while. He’s a tough kid. He’ll come back quicker than most people think he will. A severe sprain will have him out for a period of time, hopefully a short period of time.”
Self had words for the officials as he headed to tend to Padgett on the court.
“I thought the game was pretty rough. It doesn’t make any difference if they call fouls on us or them, I thought it was getting rough. It was all I said,” Self said. “(In the officials’ defense), it’s a hard game to call when there is that much knocking and banging going on.”
J.R. Giddens rolled his ankle with 10:22 left and didn’t return because KU had a 15-point lead and wasn’t threatened the rest of the way. Giddens, who has had ankle problems, likely could have returned if needed.
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Leap win: Sunday’s win marked the first time in 80 years the Jayhawks had won a game on Feb. 29. Then again, KU has played only one other game on that Leap Year date in the interim — an 89-85 loss at Colorado in 1984.
According to the KU record book, Kansas has played five times on Feb. 29.
The other Leap Year games were a 33-28 loss at Nebraska in 1912, a 31-19 home win over Missouri in 1916 and a 31-22 loss to Washington College in St. Louis in 1924.
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Nice pass: Wayne Simien had a monster dunk after Langford bounced the ball off the glass to a trailing Simien.
“Keith told me it was a pass,” Simien said, “not a shot. He gets an assist for passing it off the backboard to me.”
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Graves excels: Jeff Graves had seven rebounds and four points in 26 minutes.
“It’s not how many points you score, it’s how you impact the game with your energy. Jeff impacted the game,” Self said. “I told the guys the best possession of the game was with 3:36 left, there’s a loose ball, an OU player dives, and we had two players dive for the ball. It was guys playing the game the way it’s meant to be played.”
Graves and Michael Lee were the two to dive for the ball.
“If David is out, especially, we have to have other big guys step up,” Simien said. “Jeff Graves. Christian Moody and Moulaye (Niang). Jeff Graves was great today. The whole bench was great.
“Everyone has seen (Graves) play. We know what he can do and how well he can play. It’s a matter of him choosing which Jeff Graves will come out.”
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Kemper still possible: KU can’t win the league title, but still can earn the right to play first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games in Kansas City’s Kemper Arena.
It’s believed KU will need a four or a five seed to gain a bid to Kemper.
“Tournament time is coming up,” Langford said. “There are no guarantees. We want to impress the committee people. We want to win on Wednesday (Nebraska) and win at Missouri (Sunday) and try to make a claim to play at Kemper.”
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Team honored: KU’s 1974 Final Four team was introduced to the sellout crowd at halftime. The crowd included former Jayhawk and current Indiana Pacers center Scot Pollard, who took advantage of an off day to attend. Pollard lives in Lawrence in the offseason.