College Basketball

Kansas star Kevin McCullar out for NCAA tournament, Bill Self says

Updated Mar. 19, 2024 11:57 p.m. ET

The Kansas men's basketball team is shutting down star guard Kevin McCullar and will be without him for the NCAA Tournament that begins this week, head coach Bill Self told reporters Tuesday.

McCullar led the Jayhawks in scoring this past season with 18.3 points per game along with 6.0 rebounds per game and 4.1 assists per game. He had been dealing with a lingering knee injury in recent weeks and had not played since Kansas' March 9 loss to Houston.

"It's too bad for him to be able to contribute," Self said upon the team's arrival in Salt Lake City, "so Kevin will not play. We're shutting him down for the tournament. If we’re fortunate enough to win two games we’ll have done it without him."

"He hasn’t practiced in six weeks, basically," Self added. "He tried to (go play) and said that he just couldn’t go."

McCullar issued a statement on social media shortly after Self's comments.

McCullar, who was voted an honorable-mention All-American earlier Tuesday, had back-to-back triple-doubles earlier this season, and he was having the kind of season the Jayhawks had hoped for when he decided to return for a fifth year. McCullar spent his first three seasons at Texas Tech before transferring to Kansas.

"Kevin’s with the team," Self said. "I mean, heck, he tried and we know he tried and was going through rehab, and it just didn’t get any better. The other weeks, it progressively got a little bit better. And this week it just — with consultation with doctors and with Kevin and where he is mentally and physically right now, it’s best for him to go ahead and shut it down, unfortunately for us, and more so for him, but there was really no decision to be made because he can’t go."

There was a silver lining for Kansas on Tuesday, however, as Self said this week that second-team All-American forward Hunter Dickinson is on track to play in the Jayhawks' first-round game against No. 13 Samford, which is set to tip off at 9:55 p.m. ET on CBS.

Dickinson is averaging 18.0 points per game, second on the team behind McCullar, in his first season at Kansas since transferring from Michigan. He suffered a dislocated shoulder in Kansas' regular season finale and, like McCullar, did not play in the Big 12 tournament, where the Jayhawks were upset by Cincinnati without their two leading scorers.

The Kansas offense often flows through Dickinson in the paint, and his importance was evident in the loss to the Bearcats. It will be just as important for the No. 4 seed Jayhawks against Samford, one of the smallest teams in Division I.

"The draw is hard, but the draw for any four-seed is hard," Self said. "You’re going to play a team that can beat you in the first round, and you’re going to obviously play either team in the second round that can beat you. So, yeah, the draw is hard, but I don’t look at it as being a positive or negative. I look at it being what it is."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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