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Kansas

Norm Roberts says Kevin McCullar, Gradey Dick are 'doing well'

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby:On3 Staff Report•03/15/23
Kevin McCullar, Kansas Jayhawks guard
Kansas guard Kevin McCullar dribbles with the basketball during a game on March 9, 2023. (Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)

The Kansas basketball team fell to Texas convincingly in the Big 12 Tournament title game, but it did so without one of its usual stalwarts available, as injury sidelined guard Kevin McCullar.

McCullar is the team’s third-leading scorer and will be a major factor in any postseason run the Jayhawks make. The good news is that both he and fellow guard Gradey Dick appear to be on the mend.

“Both guys practiced full speed today and had great bounce to them,” interim coach Norm Roberts said. “So they are both doing well.”

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Dick goes into the NCAA Tournament averaging 14.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, while McCullar averages 10.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

Both play major minutes for Kansas, so any injury that would sideline either one would be significant. Kevin McCullar missed the Big 12 Tournament final with back spasms, with Kansas opting to give him some extra rest knowing the NCAA Tournament was right around the corner.

The 76-56 loss to Texas in the tournament final didn’t preclude Kansas from earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, either.

Can Kansas get fully healthy in time, though? That question includes the status of head coach Bill Self, who was hospitalized during the Big 12 Tournament and has not yet fully resumed his head coaching duties.

Bill Self is on the mend at Kansas

Self was hospitalized during the Big 12 Tournament after undergoing ‘a standard procedure.’ He was released from the University of Kansas Health System on Sunday.

Since then he’s even had a chance to make it out to Kansas’ practices leading into the NCAA Tournament.

“He’s doing well today,” Roberts said. “He was at practice today, he was at practice last night and all of our meetings. He’s doing well, he’s getting better all the time. We’re hopeful and everything is day-to-day with him, but if you ask our guys he got after them pretty good today so he was doing really well.”

Kansas’ opening game in the tournament will be on Thursday against Howard at 2 p.m. ET with a broadcast on TBS.