Kansas City, Mo. — Kansas freshman Quentin Grimes, who carried the Jayhawks to a halftime lead and 88-74 victory over West Virginia in the Big 12 tournament semifinals on Friday night at Sprint Center knew a couple of things right away when he went down with a leg injury with 6 minutes to play in the victory.
First, he knew exactly what was wrong with him. Second, he knew he needed to be anywhere but on the floor.
“Right when I shot it, the cramp came in right when I was releasing the ball,” Grimes recalled after his 18-point, 5 3-pointer night helped pace KU to victory. “I went to pass it but nobody was open so I just had to shoot it and then the cramp was pretty bad when I came down. … My whole leg cramped up and I was like, ‘Dang, I need to get up out the game now.’ I got some fluids in me and I should be good for tomorrow. I’m feeling better now.”
Helped off the floor by KU trainers, Grimes limped his way to the bench, where he quickly took in some Gatorade and electrolyte pills to get the fluids flowing through his body.
Before that, though, Grimes stayed down on the floor for a few minutes, writhing in pain and struggling to regain his feet.
Grimes was not the only one who was unafraid of the severity of the injury that had fans in the stands craning their necks the rest of the night to see if they could catch a glimpse of what was going on with Grimes.
“I know my boy,” KU freshman Ochai Agbaji said after the victory. “He was cramping up (Thursday) and I saw it on the bench (on Friday) so I knew he was cramping up and I knew he’d be fine.”
Added point guard Devon Dotson: “Oh, I knew he was fine. We were kind of joking a little about it, talking about how he was cramping up last game, so I knew it wasn’t too bad. That’s how cramps can be.”
Like the rest of his teammates, Grimes spoke with reporters in the KU locker room after the game and said he planned to get some extra treatment late Friday night to ensure that he would be ready for Saturday’s Big 12 title game.
Kansas will take on Iowa State at 5 p.m. Saturday with the Big 12 tournament title on the line.
