FORT WORTH, Texas — Kansas’ Mitch Lightfoot, who had been considered day to day with a sprained left knee, played 6:30 in the 83-56 victory over Texas Southern in a first-round NCAA Tournament game on Thursday.
Lightfoot, the sixth-year senior forward, entered the game with 14:20 remaining in the first half when he replaced starter David McCormack. He had a brace on the knee under a white compression sleeve, which he also wore during warmups.
He did not play in the second half, and he finished with three points and four rebounds.
He injured the knee in the second half of Kansas’ victory over Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday.
Coach Bill Self said in recent days that Lightfoot was day to day and that he would not put him in the game against the Tigers if he believed he would be in jeopardy.
“To be candid with you, I thought we needed to play him early,” Self said Thursday night. “But the biggest thing was it worked out good that we could test it and he could get some confidence from it and have it not bother him and get through the game.”
