Azubuike could be back for Big 12 play

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.

The 7-footer 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.