Notebook: KU’s McCullar gets an earful from fans of his former team

By Matt Tait     Jan 3, 2023

Associated Press
Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. (15) reacts to a call against Texas Tech during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Justin Rex)

Lubbock, Texas — Although he arrived at United Supermarkets Arena and suited up much earlier, Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr.’s first appearance in front of his old fans officially came one hour and 12 minutes before tipoff of Tuesday’s Big 12 battle between No. 3 Kansas and Texas Tech.

And the reception at the beginning of a wild, 75-72 Kansas victory that came down to the final seconds, was enough to make him smile.

“I’m glad we came out with the W,” McCullar said after the victory. “That was the main goal.”

As one of the last Jayhawks out of the locker room for the team’s first of two pregame shoot-around sessions, McCullar was moderately booed by 40 or so Texas Tech students at the north end of the floor when he came through the tunnel.

The ribbing went on for about 30 seconds and McCullar, who was expecting to be jeered instead of cheered on Tuesday night, broke into a sly smile about 10 seconds into it. After that, as he approached mid-court, he handed out hugs and high-fives to several Texas Tech coaches and managers.

“It was a great battle, a great game, a great environment,” he said. “It’s just another game. Fans are going to be fans. I know millions of kids out there want to be in my position I’m in right now, so life’s too short to let some boos and some yelling get to me. I just went out there and stayed with my brothers and we pulled out the W.”

During his four years at Texas Tech, McCullar was dressed in red and black for 55 games inside the Red Raiders’ home arena. This offseason, he elected to make the jump to Kansas, one year after former Tech coach Chris Beard left for Texas.

Although Beard’s return to Lubbock featured a lot more venom from the Texas Tech fans, which McCullar saw up close and personal, the KU senior dealt with his share of taunts and chants on Tuesday night.

The loudest came during his pregame introduction, when Red Raiders fans ripped off a deep and prolonged round of booing after he was introduced as a KU starter. One fan, in the first row, also had a sign that read, “Our favorite Kevin stayed,” referencing TTU big man Kevin Obanor.

McCullar was booed pretty much every time he touched the ball throughout Tuesday’s game, which included two early fouls, one of which inspired a chant of “(Expletive) you, Kevin,” from a portion of the TTU crowd.

McCullar’s time on the court in the early going was short-lived after he picked up two fouls in the first 3:18 of the game. McCullar’s first basket of the game came with just over 8 minutes to play in the first half, when he hit a 3-pointer to give KU a 26-25 lead and responded by putting a finger to his lips to quiet down the booing home crowd.

After the win, McCullar and his old coach, TTU’s Mark Adams, chatted on the court for a few seconds. What was the conversation about?

“Just how fun that was,” McCullar said. “He was glad to see me out there doing my thing and I told him I was glad to see him doing his thing, so we just chopped it up real quick and it was good to see everybody.”

Said Self of McCullar’s return to his old stomping grounds: “I thought he did fine. Kevin liked it here. I mean, he loved it here. He loves coach Adams, he loves the staff, he loves those guys. But the welcome he got was exactly the way it should be and he knows that.”

Self continued: “If it messed with him, he’s had 10 months to prepare for that because he knew that was coming. It would mess with anybody, but I think that Kevin played pretty well. He was aggressive.”

No go for Joe

Kansas sophomore Joe Yesufu sat out of Tuesday’s game with what KU officials called “a tweaked hamstring” prior to Tuesday’s tipoff. Yesufu suffered the injury in practice this week.

Yesufu is averaging 4.3 points per game in 12.5 minutes per game so far this season. Prior to Tuesday’s absence, Yesufu had played at least 13:33 in five of KU’s past seven games.

His role thus far has been as a depth piece off the bench and a third point guard behind Dajuan Harris Jr. and Bobby Pettiford.

Self said after the victory he did not think Yesufu’s injury was anything that would threaten his chance to play in the weeks ahead.

“I think it’s day to day,” Self said. “But we weren’t going to test it today.”

Poll warriors

KU’s appearance at No. 3 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 men’s basketball poll marked the 28th consecutive week that KU had appeared in the poll’s Top 10.

That is by far the longest active streak in the country, with Houston’s streak of eight Top-10 appearances in a row coming in at No. 2 on the list.

Texas, with seven consecutive weeks in the Top 10, and Arizona, UConn and Purdue, with six, round out the top six on the list.

KU has now appeared in 32 consecutive polls after seeing its NCAA-record streak of 231 consecutive poll appearances end in February of 2021.

So far this season, the Jayhawks are 2-1 against teams ranked in the Top 25.

NET update

As the Big 12 Conference season jumps into full gear, the third-ranked Jayhawks own the title of highest-ranked Big 12 team in the latest NET rankings at No. 6 entering Tuesday night.

The NET (NCAA Tournament Evaluation Tool) is a fairly new ranking system used by the NCAA to seed its postseason tournament.

The rankings will be updated every day from now through Selection Sunday in March, with teams being rewarded for more Quadrant 1 wins – a metric based on game location and the opponent’s NET ranking – road success and their strength of schedule.

KU entered Tuesday with a 4-1 record in Quad 1 games and an 8-0 mark in Quad 2, 3 and 4 contests.

The rest of the Big 12 NET rankings on Tuesday were: 9. Texas, 20. West Virginia, 24. Baylor, 26. Iowa State, 27. Kansas State, 35. TCU, 37. Oklahoma State, 42. Texas Tech and 44. Oklahoma.

This and that…

Tuesday’s win made the Jayhawks 13-1 or better for the eighth time in KU coach Bill Self’s 20 seasons at Kansas. KU also is now 2-0 in Big 12 play for the third time in the past four seasons and the 16th time in the Self era… The Jayhawks are now 2-0 in true road games this season and 5-1 in games played away from Allen Fieldhouse… KU now leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 42-7, having won three consecutive games over the Red Raiders and six of the last seven meetings… The Jayhawks are now 13-4 all-time at United Supermarkets Arena.

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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.