KU’s Bill Self reviews 29-point loss to Tech, provides update on Kevin McCullar

Texas Tech’s loud, rowdy men’s basketball student section chanted “we want Kevin” in the closing moments of the Red Raiders’ 29-point victory over No. 6-ranked Kansas on Monday night at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas.

Alas, former Tech fan favorite Kevin McCullar, who played three seasons for the Red Raiders before transferring to KU before the 2022-23 campaign, watched from the visitors’ bench but was unable to participate in his second straight game because of a bruised knee.

The Jayhawks (19-6, 7-5), who fell to 2-1 without McCullar (he also did not play in Saturday’s win over Baylor and a Jan. 30 win over Oklahoma State), certainly would love to see the senior All-America candidate back in the lineup for Saturday’s game against Oklahoma. Tipoff is 3 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

“We won’t play him if he doesn’t practice this week, so hopefully he’ll be able to practice,” KU coach Bill Self said on Tuesday’s weekly Hawk Talk radio show.

“My thinking is if you are not able to practice, why go out there in a game not even knowing how hard you can push it and set yourself up maybe for a setback? If he’s not able to practice this week he wont play Saturday. Hopefully, he’ll be able to do some things and get out there and give us some minutes on Saturday. As of right now I have no idea.”

Freshman guard Jamari McDowell, who missed the past two games because of the flu, “will be back,” Self said.

Meanwhile, Self noted that senior point guard Dajuan Harris, who suffered an ankle injury late in the Baylor game, was not completely healthy in Monday’s lopsided defeat. Harris had seven points on 2-of-8 shooting (0-for-3 from 3) with three assists and three turnovers in 36 minutes.

“He wasn’t 100%, but he would never tell you that,” Self said. “I think that was pretty obvious if you studied or watched the game. Juan was out there. He cares so much, but certainly he wasn’t as effective as what his potential can be.”

Health was a major topic on Tuesday’s Hawk Talk show.

“Fortunately for us from a health standpoint, playing with the number of guys we are, we should be hopefully more healthy moving forward, have more bodies and at least have a two-day break (from practice) between these last six games at the minimum,” Self said.

“The big thing we need to do is figure a way to get better and get prepared for what counts the most in March. Hopefully we’ll be whole by the time we get there. If that’s the case, we can be a very difficult team to deal with. I predict that we will be, but we need to be whole. We need to get everybody back healthy.”

The Jayhawks on Monday fell to 1-5 on the road in conference action with road games remaining against OU, Baylor and Houston. KU has home games left against Texas, BYU and Kansas State.

“We were all — coaches included — we were all definitely duds last night,” Self said in referring to the 79-50 setback before 15,098 fans, who also chanted “overrated” at the Jayhawks in the final moments.

“Players, too. They’d be the first to tell you. With Kevin out, playing a team that played as well as they did, you’d think those three (Harris, KJ Adams and Hunter Dickinson, who combined for 17 points on 5-of-30 shooting) would have to have at least average to above-average numbers and it didn’t happen last night. Our ball and body movement stunk. We didn’t play the way that we have played whenever we’ve been good on the offensive end.”

Self added that the Jayhawks “looked slow. We looked like we were a step behind in everything we were doing We are so much better than that. A lot of our shots were contested shots that were harder shots, but a lot were the normal shots we usually get.”

Can KU fix its road woes?

“Well, we are running out of opportunities. We have three left. One of them is at Baylor, one Houston, one Oklahoma. When we played them before (78-66 KU victory over Sooners on Jan. 13) they were ninth in the country and it was a one-point game at halftime (with KU leading 38-37).”

KU is currently ranked No. 6 in the country. OU is now ranked No. 25 while and Houston is No. 3 and Baylor No. 12.

“Getting a win at any of those places would be fabulous, would be fantastic,” Self said. “The big thing we need to do is figure a way to get better and get prepared for what counts the most in March.”