Ever since he injured his left ankle back on Feb. 1 during a KU practice, there was some hope that sophomore guard Marcus Garrett would be able to return in time for Saturday’s 3 p.m. game against West Virginia at Allen Fieldhouse, but that hope has all but dwindled.
Self said Thursday that Garrett had done “nothing in practice” and added that “he will not go Saturday.”
“That is the game plan as of today, unless something changes after this morning,” Self said Thursday afternoon.
Garrett, who has been out of the walking boot he was wearing for about the last week was able to practice once last week but has been sidelined ever since.
“Nothing in practice,” Self said. “He’ll get on the side and maybe run or do some sliding stuff or whatever. He got out there one day and it really swelled up after one day so he’s been very limited in practice.”
Garrett, who is widely known as this team’s best defender and also is one of the more experienced perimeter players in uniform despite being just a sophomore, has missed the past 4 games — vs. Texas Tech, at K-State, vs. Oklahoma State and at TCU — and the Jayhawks are 3-1 in that stretch.
No news on Vick
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Self was asked Thursday if there was any change in the status of senior guard Lagerald Vick, who took a leave of absence from the team last week and been away from the team for the past two games.
“No. No,” Self said. “No reports on that at all.”
The Jayhawks are 2-0 without Vick and have shown in the past week the ability to come together and bring good energy to game night and their practices, which has helped them overcome the loss of their most experienced player.
Self called the locker room celebration after the TCU win on Monday night the best the Jayhawks have had this season and indicated Thursday that the good vibes from that night have carried over into the rest of the week.
“There’s no question,” Self said. “We’ve had better shoot-arounds. In the last week, we’ve been better at everything. We beat Tennessee, we’ve beaten Marquette, we’ve beaten Michigan State and none of those locker rooms were as good as it was the other day, but it’s also just a bunch of young kids out there having fun, too, and everyone contributed so that probably added to it as well.”
West Virginia, which recently endured its own roster news, when Bob Huggins dismissed starters Esa Ahmad and Wesley Harris for a violation of athletic department policies, is entering Saturday’s game with Kansas in a similar situation, with the Mountaineers, like the Jayhawks, forced to redefine their identity late in the season.
“The last game they played, they didn’t play the way they had hoped, being at home, but they were going through some crap and it may have been just that day, when there were so many changes in their roster,” Self said Thursday. ‘Sometimes those are hard to come back from in a short amount time, but usually when you have some time to practice and do some things, sometimes those things can become advantages for you, too, to make the team closer.”
