McCullar will not play in NCAA Tournament

By Henry Greenstein     Mar 19, 2024

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Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. (15) and the Jayhawks leave the court following their 75-70 overtime loss to Kansas State on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024 at Bramlage Coliseum. Photo by Nick Krug

Updated 8:32 p.m. Tuesday:

Salt Lake City — Graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. will not play in the NCAA Tournament as a result of his bone bruise to his knee, Kansas coach Bill Self said Tuesday night.

“Kevin says his knee pain has not subsided any and it’s too bad for him to be able to contribute,” he said, shortly after the Jayhawks arrived at their hotel in downtown Salt Lake City.

However, center Hunter Dickinson, Self said, “looks great” and has participated in full-contact practice the last two days.

McCullar will close his season having played in 26 games, often as KU’s top scorer and one of its leaders on both sides of the ball, but also having seen his efficiency decline considerably since he began dealing with the bone bruise.

He previously missed games against Oklahoma State (Jan. 30), Baylor (Feb. 10), Texas Tech (Feb. 12), Texas (Feb. 24), BYU (Feb. 27) and Cincinnati (March 13), the last one after exiting midway through the previous game at Houston. Self previously said he shouldn’t have played McCullar during that Houston game.

On Tuesday, Self said McCullar “tried and was going through rehab and it just didn’t get any better,” unlike how it had improved in previous weeks.

“So after consultation with doctors and Kevin and where he is mentally and physically right now, it’s best for him to go ahead and shut it down,” Self said. “Unfortunately for us and more so for him, but there was really no decision to be made because he can’t go.”

Later on Tuesday night, McCullar posted a statement on X in which he wrote in part, “if I could play, I would,” said he was “more devastated than anyone” and added he, coaches and doctors made “a collective agreement” that he would not play.

“I have done everything that I possibly could have done to get back playing at a high level to help my team,” he wrote. “This included 6-7 hours a day with the training staff at Kansas for over a month now, while not participating in practice but competing in games. While trying various treatment options, it’s simply not where it needs to be to play the game.”

McCullar, who is in Salt Lake City with the team, will now have to find a way to impact the game from the sidelines, as in previous games he missed where Self said he almost acted like an assistant coach.

“I don’t want any negative energy whatsoever, and so Kevin’s role now will not be ‘Oh, I can’t play,'” Self said, “his role will be — and certainly we’ll impress upon him to be this — ‘I’ve got to put my handprint on this in ways that I didn’t think I would be doing if in fact I was playing.’

“And that’s what winners do. They do that. It would be very selfish for him not to do that. And he’s not going to do that.”

Either Nick Timberlake, who has previously started in McCullar’s place, or Elmarko Jackson, who Self said has been practicing well, will instead enter the starting lineup for Thursday’s NCAA Tournament opener against Samford.

“The message has been ‘Deliver,’ every day for the last six weeks,” Self said, asked about his message to the two reserves. “There’s really no other message. It’s put up or shut up time. There’s really no message. Both the kids have practiced well and worked hard and they’re prepared to be out there.”

Self said McCullar “hadn’t practiced in six weeks, basically.”

“He hasn’t done more damage to his knee but he tried to do it and said that he just couldn’t go,” Self said.

article imageNick Krug/Journal-World

Kansas players Dajuan Harris Jr., left, Kevin McCullar Jr., center, and redshirt freshman Chris Carter, right, exit the team bus upon the Jayhawks’ arrival in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Kansas head coach Bill Self revealed to media members the team’s decision to withhold starter Kevin McCullar from games for the tournament as he recovers from a bone bruise in his knee.

article imageNick Krug/Journal-World

Kansas head coach Bill Self talks with media members upon the Jayhawks’ arrival to the team hotel in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Self revealed to media members his decision to withhold starter Kevin McCullar from play throughout the tournament while he recovers from a bone bruise in his knee.

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Written By Henry Greenstein

Henry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism). Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off "California vibes," whatever that means.