Bill Self still uncertain on Kevin McCullar's status for Texas game

Kevin McCullar recently returned to the lineup for Kansas after missing consecutive games while dealing with a bone bruise in his right knee.

Although he returned to the lineup against Oklahoma this past weekend, this is an injury that has the potential to linger. Head coach Bill Self explained the latest on McCullar — who played 35 minutes in the 67-57 win over the Sooners — after getting some time off during the Jayhawks’ week off.

“No, I do not know,” Self said. “He hasn’t done anything yet this week, so we’ll probably wait and see if he’s able to do anything today. Today (Thursday) will probably determine if he plays on Saturday as much as anything. But I probably won’t tell you guys.”

McCullar finished Saturday’s win shooting 4 of 14 (28 percent) from the floor but scored 10 points and logged eight boards in his return. Averaging 19.0 points per game this season as the Jayhawks’ leading scorer, it may take some time for him to regain his mid-season form.

At the same time, Kansas is in must-win mode as the Jayhawks try to lock up a 1 or 2 seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament. Heading into Saturday’s game against Texas, Kansas requires its full strength to finish out the season strong. With two more true road games left on their schedule and two games inside Allen Fieldhouse, Self wants to ensure his team defends its home court whether that be with or without McCullar.

“In our situation, holding serve at home is really important,” Self continued. “We don’t have any margin for error, but I’m not looking at it the way that maybe some people are looking at it. I’m looking at, hey, let’s try to win one game at a time and we can’t control what other people do and whatever happens, happens. But as long as we take care of our business, we get a chance to have a really good year in our league.”

Kansas will stay at home this weekend against the Longhorns before turning around and welcoming No. 25 BYU to town in a first-time-ever conference matchup between the two schools. Once the Jayhawks take care of that, then they can worry about the road matchups against No. 11 Baylor and No. 2 Houston after that.

The opening tip between Kansas and Texas is scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m. ET live on ESPN. McCullar’s final status for the game won’t be revealed until much closer to tip.