Kansas basketball coach Bill Self provides injury updates for Cam Martin, Kevin McCullar, Bobby Pettiford and Kyle Cuffe Jr.

By Matt Tait     Nov 30, 2022

Nick Krug
Kansas head coach Bill Self pumps up the fans during Late Night in the Phog on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self provided a series of injury updates for his current team on Tuesday night during his appearance on his “Hawk Talk” radio show.

Here’s a quick look at the latest on the four scholarship players who have been impacted by injuries so far this season.

• Cam Martin

The super-senior big men separated his shoulder before the start of the season and was hoping to return in time for the start of Big 12 Conference play on Dec. 31.

It sounds like that timeline has been moved up a bit.

“(Martin could) possibly play against Missouri (Dec. 10),” Self said Tuesday night. “That would be a goal. Indiana (Dec. 17) would probably be more a definite if he does not have a setback.”

It remains to be seen what kind of role the 6-foot-9, 230-pound Martin could have on this team. But given the fact that KU’s other bigs have received limited playing time and left Self and his staff looking for more production at the 5, it’s not hard to envision him getting a shot at real minutes.

• Kevin McCullar Jr.

McCullar is dealing with a pulled groin and he missed Monday’s win over Texas Southern after initially injuring the groin in KU’s loss to Tennessee four days earlier.

Self said after the TSU win that they wanted to be extra careful with McCullar because of his history of lingering injuries keeping him out for a while.

The initial hope was that he could practice on Wednesday and play on Thursday against Seton Hall — 8 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse on ESPN — but Self said Tuesday night that McCullar was “a real longshot” for the Jayhawks’ next game, adding, “Hopefully we’ll have him back for Missouri, as well.”

• Bobby Pettiford

Like McCullar, Pettiford injured himself in the Tennessee loss, pulling a hamstring in the early minutes and sitting the rest of the night.

He also missed the Texas Southern game and Self said after Monday’s win that they wanted to let Pettiford rest as much as possible so treatment would help the hamstring heal and not push it toward a tear.

His initial hope was that Pettiford would miss just a week or two and be back for the Dec. 10 game at Mizzou, and on Tuesday Self said there was still “an outside shot” that the backup point guard would be able to play against the Tigers.

“It’s probably more of a two-week type injury in addition to the week he already sat out,” Self said on his radio show.

• Kyle Cuffe Jr.

The redshirt freshman guard who tore the MCL and PCL ligaments during a non-contact situation in a mid-November practice remains sidelined as he works toward a return.

Initially expected to miss 10-12 weeks, Self said Tuesday that Cuffe likely would be out until the end of January and that he also probably will not be 100% when he’s able to return to basketball activities.

All of these injuries — particularly those to McCullar and Pettiford — have left the Jayhawks a little short-handed for Thursday’s game against Seton Hall, which Self said would be “a hard game.”

Seton Hall enters the matchup at 4-3 overall and ranked No. 57 in the current KenPom.com rankings. Kansas, at 7-1, is currently No. 17.

The Pirates have wins over Monmouth, Saint Peter’s, Wagner and Memphis and losses at home against Iowa and to Oklahoma and Siena on a neutral court.

Seton Hall is led by first-year head coach and former Seton Hall player, Shaheen Holloway, who last season was the head coach at Saint Peter’s, which became the first No. 15 seed in NCAA history to reach the Elite Eight.

The Peacocks and Holloway were the darlings of last year’s NCAA Tournament, knocking off No. 2 seed Kentucky in Round 1, No. 7 Murray State in Round 2 and No. 3 seed Purdue in the Sweet 16 before falling to North Carolina in the Elite Eight.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.