Kansas point guard Devon Dotson said Friday that his left ankle was a little sore when he woke up on Friday morning, following KU’s 87-53 victory over No. 13 seed Northeastern on Thursday night.
But neither Dotson nor KU coach Bill Self seemed at all worried that the ankle tweak, which Dotson endured while battling for a rebound in the second half of Thursday’s victory, would have a negative impact on his ability to be ready for Saturday’s second round game against 5th-seeded Auburn in Salt Lake City.
“A turned ankle isn’t going to keep a guy from playing,” Self said.
When asked about the communication he’s had with his point guard about the injury, Self said the two have treated it as if it’s a non-issue.
“I haven’t even asked him how he felt,” Self explained. “Because he may tell me doesn’t feel well. So I’d rather not know that and just imagine he’s going to be 100 percent, which I’m sure he will be.”
As for Dotson’s take on the ankle, he, too, was optimistic that he would be just fine by game time Saturday night. The fact that he was able to re-enter Thursday’s game and play down the stretch while testing it out, gave him some confidence that the injury was minor.
“It feels all right,” Dotson said. “Kind of sore waking up (Friday) morning and I’ll try to really test it at practice, but it’s feeling all right. I’m not really worried about it.”
Another Jayhawk battling an ailment on Friday was sophomore guard Marcus Garrett, who was not present at any of KU’s media activities and instead stayed back at the team hotel trying to fight off some kind of illness.
“We’re hoping it’s not the flu,” Self said Friday. “But he’s being treated like it is. He was running a fever and certainly had some of those symptoms. But we think, hey, with a good day’s rest and a lot of fluids, he’ll be ready to go tomorrow. He better be.”
Self said Garrett started feeling bad before Thursday’s game and got worse as the night went on. But, like with Dotson, Self seemed supremely confident that the team’s best defender would be doing his thing on Saturday night.
“He’s sick,” Self said. “(He) didn’t have a good night (Thursday). But he’ll be ready to go.”
