Will Kevin McCullar, Jr., and Hunter Dickinson return for NCAA Opener?
Kansas, the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region, will open up its NCAA Tournament run against Samford, the No. 14 seed, on Thursday, March 16, at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Kansas, which finished the regular season with an overall record of 22-10 and 10-8 in the Big 12, is currently on a two-game losing streak. The Jayhawks lost their final regular-season game of the year at Houston, 76-46, and, in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament, Kansas fell to Cincinnati, 72-52.
Against Houston, Kevin McCullar, Jr., was limited due to a bone bruise in his left knee, while Hunter Dickinson suffered a dislocated shoulder in the second half against the Cougars.
In Wednesday night's loss to Cincinnati in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament, both McCullar, Jr., and Dickinson were unavailable against the Bearcats.
Kansas head coach Bill Self, while addressing the media following Sunday's NCAA Tournament selection show, provided the very latest on both McCullar, Jr., and Dickinson.
"Yeah, Hunt's doing great,” said Self. “He's actually practiced the last two days, non-contact, so we've done a lot of dry stuff. So that way he could be out there and then he'll go contact tomorrow.
“Kevin, I haven't seen do anything,” he added. “The entire game plan on him was hopefully on Monday he can be good to go and if he's not good to go tomorrow, then he won't be and then we'll hope on Tuesday. But I don't know as much about Kevin as I do Hunt.”
KU’s NCAA Tournament opener against Samford is set for 8:55 p.m. CT on TBS. If the Jayhawks are going to open up their NCAA Tournament run with a bang, McCullar, Jr., and Dickinson will need to be as close to 100% healthy as possible.
This season, McCullar, Jr., averaged 18.3 points, and 6.1 rebounds per game. Offensively, he shot 45.4 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from behind the arc, and 80.5 percent from the free-throw line.
Dickinson, in 31 games, averaged 18.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. He connected on 55.0 percent of his field goals, 35.0 percent of his shots from behind the arc, and 64.1 percent of his free throws.
Kansas will prepare to face a Samford team that ranks No. 7 in the nation in three-point field goal percentage at 39.3% from behind the arc. The Bulldogs enter Thursday night's matchup against the Jayhawks averaging 9.9 three-pointers per game.
Aside from defending the perimeter on Thursday night, Kansas, according to Self, will need to hit some shots from behind the arc against the Bulldogs.
“Yeah, I think that when we get Hunter back, I think he automatically gives you confidence,” said Self. “He's different that way, and he'll give us more this time of year than ever. But case in point, you got to step up. You got to make more than what we've done. We've made, I don't want to misspeak, I think six for our last 43, 42, something like that.
“And a couple of those were by walk-ons, so that's not exactly lighten it up. But I know that we're better than that and we'll shoot it better. I'm concerned always about it comes down to making shots. But the bottom line is a lot of times it's easier to keep somebody from doing something than it is you actually doing it yourself. And that's the way shooting is. Sometimes you defend the arc.”