Report: Kansas star Kevin McCullar ruled out for second straight game at Texas Tech

The Kansas men’s hoops team will play at least one more game at less than 100% as news broke this afternoon that Jayhawk star Kevin McCullar will miss his second straight game Monday evening at Texas Tech.

Here was the report of McCullar’s continued absence form Jeff Goodman after he also missed the Baylor game this past weekend:

“Kansas’ Kevin McCullar will miss his second straight game tonight at Texas Tech, source told The Field of 68.”

So no McCullar once again for what will be an under-manned Kansas team, who goes into hostile territory on the road vs. the Red Raiders. However, that was the working assumption leading into the game, which Self had said.

“I can’t imagine Kevin being a lot better on Monday if he can’t hardly move on Saturday,” Bill Self shared at his latest presser. Then, by early in the afternoon, word came from Goodman that Kansas would be shorthanded.

Kevin McCullar has dealt with injury issues throughout the season. The Baylor game was the first that he’s missed and Kansas is hoping to get him back as quickly as possible, obviously, but there’s always the need for caution with injury recovery to avoid missing more unnecessary time down the line. After all, while averaging 19.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game this season, McCullar has been vital to the team’s success.

Dajuan Harris Jr. has an ankle injury that he suffered late in the game against Baylor. A vital defensive player for Kansas, he is averaging 8.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game. Losing him for an extended period would force Bill Self to find a new approach and test Kansas’ depth in the second half of the season.

“Same thing I just said. Dajuan, I don’t know, he’ll get treatment. I don’t know if he’ll be able to play or not tomorrow,” Self said. “He got it pretty good, they said. They said he got it pretty good, but he still made the biggest shot of the game when he came back in.”

According to college hoops insider Jon Rothstein, Self plans on having Harris back in the lineup against Texas Tech. He tweeted out shortly after the McCullar report:

“Bill Self tells me that he thinks Dajuan Harris (ankle) will play tonight against Texas Tech.”

So, Harris is expected to play in some capacity while McCullar is again out for the game. It could be up hill sledding for this KU group tonight.