Kansas' Kevin McCullar Jr. will miss March Madness due to injury

SALT LAKE CITY — The news about Kevin McCullar Jr. missing the NCAA Tournament due to an injury spread wide and fast Tuesday.

McCullar, a graduate senior guard, came back to Kansas for one more season on a team that started out with a chance to win a national championship. Although an injury affected his availability during Big 12 Conference play, it appeared he would be able to be a part of a potential run with the Jayhawks (22-10) during March Madness.

But coach Bill Self revealed Tuesday that McCullar wouldn’t be able to play. McCullar later released his own statement on the matter.

“First, I’d like to address Jayhawk Nation, thank you for the support!” McCullar said in a post on X. “In regard to me not playing in March Madness, if I could play, I would. I am more devastated than anyone, knowing that I can’t play & compete alongside my team and that my college career has now come to an end.

"I have done everything that I possibly could have done to get back playing at a high level to help my team. This included 6-7 hours a day with the training staff at Kansas for over a month now, while not participating in practice but competing in games. While trying various treatment options, it’s simply not where it needs to be to play the game.

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"With a collective agreement between myself, the coaches and the Kansas team doctors, it was decided that I should not play. This is the best time of the year and I wish I was able to help my brothers & KU on the court during this time, but unfortunately I cannot. I will be supporting them in Utah and the rest of this March run!”

Kansas, a No. 4 seed in the Midwest region, still appears to be in line to have senior center Hunter Dickinson back for Thursday's game against No. 13-seed Samford (29-5). While that’s one All-America caliber talent back for the Jayhawks, they’ll be without one more.

McCullar has been a leading scoring option for Kansas this season. He’s also affected the game in many other ways, especially defensively. Yet, as the Jayhawks look to make a run at another national championship, McCullar won’t be able to be on the court with his teammates.

Time will tell if the likes of graduate senior guard Nicolas Timberlake and freshman guard Elmarko Jackson can step up with McCullar out. They’ve shown the potential, at times,to be great assets for Kansas.

But they’ve never been tested like they will be this week.

“The ones in the locker room know all the work you put in behind the scenes to try to play for us for the last couple months,” Dickinson said in part in a post on X. “Love you my brother.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.