No. 6 Kansas will be without its best player, Kevin McCullar Jr., for the second straight game when it travels to Texas Tech for Monday night's conference matchup, Jayhawks coach Bill Self confirmed. It's a missed homecoming opportunity for McCullar, who spent the first three seasons of his college career with the Red Raiders before transferring to Kansas prior to the 2022-23 season.
McCullar missed the Jayhawks' previous game against Baylor after telling ESPN's "College GameDay" that he was "a little banged up." McCullar has been dealing with a nagging knee injury and missed last month's game against Oklahoma State. This will mark the third game he's missed this season.
"Like I've said all along ... it's a bone bruise," Self told reporters last month. "So, I'm anticipating him being able to go. But I don't know to the extent or how much it'll bother him or anything like that."
McCullar is averaging a team-high 19.5 points per game this season to go along with 6.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists. The fifth-year senior is enjoying the best season of his career after averaging 10.7 points per game a season ago.
Kansas is coming off a 64-61 win over the Bears to improve to19-5 overall and 7-4 in Big 12 play. In McCullar's last outing against Kansas State, he struggled and finished 6 of 18 from the floor.
The Jayhawks are currently behind Iowa State and Houston in the conference standings after leapfrogging Baylor.
