In the closing minutes of a rare comfortable win for the Kansas men’s basketball team, senior Kevin McCullar Jr. made his first and only basket of the game.
Standing all alone in front of the KU bench, McCullar drained a 3-pointer from the corner and took a moment for himself. He looked at his feet before pointing toward the roof of the T-Mobile Center, putting a bow on KU’s 78-61 win over West Virginia during Thursday’s Big 12 quarterfinal matchup.
“I wasn’t really worried about scoring,” McCullar said. “I was just out there trying to compete. Do the little things to try to help us get a win in this tournament. You have to survive and advance.”
On a day where McCullar didn’t know if he would be playing until right before the contest, he certainly did enough little things to help push the Jayhawks (26-6) to the Big 12 semifinals.
McCullar, who has been dealing with back spasms for several days, did not start the game for the Jayhawks for the first time all season Joseph Yesufu took his place in the starting lineup before McCullar checked into the game at the 15:19 mark in the first half.
“This is my first time ever having (back spasms), it is different,” McCullar said. “My dad is always telling me about how his back is messing up, I kind of see what he’s talking about a little bit.”
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Box score: Kansas 78, West Virginia 61
Photo Gallery: Kansas basketball vs. West Virginia
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McCullar has been treating his back for much of the week. He has received plenty of massages while incorporating a mix of heating pads and ice packs in the days leading up to the game. KU’s staff then gave McCullar two different stints in the first half for a total of seven minutes and 41 seconds.
“It was fine once I got moving around,” McCullar said. “The training staff got me ready and my back is feeling great now.”
Whenever McCullar was on the floor, KU’s play on the defensive end was noticeably better. According to the official stat broadcast, McCullar only gave up 6.8 points while playing 65.3% of the team’s minutes.
The biggest defensive highlight for McCullar occurred midway through the first half, when he intercepted a cross-court pass and it led to a transition layup for Dajuan Harris Jr. to cap off a decisive 14-0 run.
“We need Kevin, he’s the toughest player on our team,” Harris said. “He can do everything, he can guard everything. Even though he didn’t do too much offensively, he still tried to rebound and he guarded really well. It just shows that he’s tough.”
Yesufu, who earned his second start as a Jayhawk, concurred.
“That man is strong, he’s a warrior,” Yesufu added. “I’m very proud of him, I made sure to tell him that during the game.”
McCullar played it carefully in the first half, using a heating pad wrapped around his torso when sitting on the bench. With a 31-23 lead at the break, McCullar told the staff he was able to start the second half. And he didn’t sub out until there was 1:39 left to play.
“I started feeling good in the second half and was able to play big minutes,” McCullar said.
McCullar collected seven defensive rebounds in 26 minutes of action. He mostly stuck with WVU guard Kedrian Johnson, who was held to eight points on 3-of-9 shooting. McCullar defended Erik Stevenson in the previous two meetings against WVU, but passed that assignment off to Harris on Thursday. Stevenson scored 13 points on 14 shot attempts.
“I always knew Kevin was going to play today,” K.J. Adams Jr. said. “I think someone would have to tie him to a wall for him not to play. Just (having) him on the court, it doesn’t matter how many points he scored, he’s just a good player to have around.”
While Adams was confident McCullar would be playing on Thursday, some of his teammates were not as sure prior to tipoff.
“Kevin is one of the toughest dudes I’ve ever seen,” Grady Dick said. “He was in a lot of pain a couple days ago. When I saw him then, I would have never guessed he’d be on the court.”
Harris, who also admitted after the game that he thought McCullar would miss the Big 12 tournament, believes head coach Bill Self played a role in why the transfer from Texas Tech toughed it out.
Self was admitted to the hospital late Wednesday night to recover from an illness, and will miss the entire Big 12 tournament. Norm Roberts served as acting head coach in Self’s absence, and will continue to do so.
“When we heard about Coach Self this morning, that’s when I think he wanted to play for him,” Harris said. “He knows what he came here for, he doesn’t have too many games left.”
McCullar and the rest of the Jayhawks will be back in action on Friday for a Big 12 semifinal showdown with Iowa State. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m.
