Kansas’ injured Azubuike to miss game vs. NMSU
7-foot post not likely to return until January after high ankle sprain
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas coach Bill Self is hopeful injured center Udoka Azubuike will be back on the floor by the time the second-ranked Jayhawks open Big 12 play against Oklahoma on Jan. 2.
But the 7-footer won’t be in action Saturday against 7-1 New Mexico State at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
Azubuike sustained a severe high ankle sprain when he landed awkwardly on a Wofford player early in the Jayhawks’ 72-47 rout on Tuesday night. Azubuike was still not putting much weight on the ankle Thursday, Self said, but he could be moving in a walking boot by the weekend.
Azubuike is averaging 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds this season.
“He seems to have good spirits,” Self said. “I don’t think he’s excited about it. He’s not going to put any weight on it, or very little weight on it, the next couple of days. But I don’t see any reason he can’t be up and at ‘em by the end of the weekend.”
Azubuike missed much of his freshman season after requiring wrist surgery, and he dealt with a sprained ligament in his left knee late last season and into the NCAA Tournament. Still, he managed to help Kansas roll to the Final Four before losing to eventual national champion Villanova.
The Jayhawks are also without big man Silvio de Sousa, whose name surfaced in connection with the FBI probe into college basketball corruption. The sophomore forward has been benched indefinitely while the school and the NCAA investigate whether he received impermissible benefits.
Kansas is still better-equipped to deal with Azubuike’s absence than they have been in recent years, though. Leading scorer Dedric Lawson is a versatile point-forward capable of guarding an opposing big man, and junior forward Mitch Lightfoot has plenty of experience coming off the bench.
“We go from being a really deep team inside to now we don’t have much depth at all because you not only have ’Doke out, but you have Silvio out too,” Self said. “We do have more options. Last year, if ’Doke went out, for almost half the season we didn’t have Silvio either, so it was just Mitch. So if Mitch got two fouls in the first 10 minutes, it was like, ‘What are we going to do?’”
Azubuike’s injury also should mean more playing time for freshman David McCormack, a fivestar prospect from venerable Oak Hill Academy. McCormack has yet to play more than 10 minutes in a game — he didn’t play at all against Louisiana-Lafayette — but had a season-high six points and pulled down three rebounds vs. Wofford.
The Jayhawks’ schedule doesn’t get a whole lot easier while Azubuike is sidelined. After the Aggies on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN2, 99.5 FM in Las Cruces, 1150 AM in Albuquerque), the Jayhawks get No. 21 Villanova at Allen Fieldhouse and have a visit to No. 20 Arizona State sandwiched between games against South Dakota and Eastern Michigan.
DUKE: Vernon Carey, perhaps the greatest basketball prospect South Florida has ever produced, is joining the Duke Blue Devils.
The five-star center from University School made his college choice Thursday in a ceremony televised live on ESPN from
Davie.
Carey is the No. 2 player in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2019.
Top 25 men
No. 18 IOWA 98, IOWA STATE 84: In Iowa City, Iowa, Tyler Cook had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Isaiah Moss added 20 points and Iowa cruised past Iowa State.
Nicholas Baer had 11 of his 14 points in the second half for the Hawkeyes (7-2). PURDUE 62, No. 23 MARYLAND 60: In West Lafayette, Ind., Carsen Edwards scored 20 points and Aaron Wheeler had a season-high 15 to help Purdue (6-3, 1-1 Big Ten) snap a two-game losing streak and avoid going 0-2 in conference play for the first time since 2013-14.
Women
No. 6 MISSISSIPPI STATE 87, No. 18 MARQUETTE 82: In Starkville, Miss., Anriel Howard scored 29 points, Teaira McCowan added 24 points and 18 rebounds, and Mississippi State rallied to beat Marquette.
Mississippi State (9-0) extended its regular-season nonconference winning streak to 45 games.
No. 19 KENTUCKY 75, RHODE ISLAND 52: In Lexington, Ky., Maci Morris scored 29 points and made five 3-pointers to help the Wildcats move to 9-0. Elemy Colome had 16 points for Rhode Island (5-3).
No. 23 MISSOURI 66, UMKC 59: In Columbia, Mo., Sophie Cunningham scored 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting and Missouri outscored UMKC 21-0 in the third quarter to win its fourth straight.