Bill Self rules Kevin McCullar out for Saturday's Texas matchup

Kansas is looking to continue its great form at home, hosting the Texas Longhorns. The biggest storyline surrounding the program for some time now has been the health of Kevin McCullar. One of the Jayhawks’ most important pieces, McCullar has not been out there due to a knee injury.

Head coach Bill Self revealed the same to be true for Saturday’s game against Texas. McCullar will not play and will continue to miss time moving forward. His official status, according to Self, is “week to week” as we’re just a few days away from March.

“Self said more on radio pre game: He said McCullar has a bone bruise on his knee,” Gary Bedore of the KC Star said via X. “‘Whenever he gets hit or there’s certain movement it hurts to the point he can’t operate.’ He’s ‘doubtful’ for BYU game Tues. Goal is to have him 100 percent in NCAAs. He’s ‘not close’ to that now.”

McCullar has not played since Feb. 17 in a game against Oklahoma. Before then, he missed just over two weeks following the thrilling overtime loss to Kansas State on the road. Kansas is already a thin team and has a tight rotation. Not having McCullar out there has made the task for Self a whole lot harder.

In 23 games this season, McCullar is averaging 19.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game. McCullar is the leading scorer for Kansas although Hunter Dickinson is not too far behind. Not to mention his great effort on the defensive end, being a former All-Big 12 Defense player.

Nicolas Timberlake has played in the place of McCullar, specifically against Baylor and Texas Tech. He was quite efficient in those two performances, finishing with eight and 13 points, respectively. Not the type of number McCullar would put up but not much more you can ask for in a tight spot.

The Texas game may have not tipped off but Kansas fans can already rule McCullar out for Tuesday night’s game against BYU. Self is hoping to get his star completely healthy for the NCAA Tournament and sending him out there right now sounds like it could worsen the injury.

Kansas is still two games behind in the Big 12 standings and is still contending for the regular season conference championship. McCullar most likely will not be on the court for the stretch run in Lawrence.