Kansas big men David McCormack and Tristan Enaruna will miss the Big 12 tournament due to COVID-19 protocols, coach Bill Self announced Tuesday.
Self believes both players will return to the NCAA tournament, and indicated that the rest of the roster would be able to fit into this week’s conference tournament in Kansas City, Missouri. It is unclear whether either player tested positive for the virus.
Kansas, who finished No. 2 in the Big 12 tournament, will play the winner of the Oklahoma-Iowa State quarterfinals on Thursday.
McCormack, a 6-foot, 10-foot youth center, has been one of the season’s most outstanding performers in the Big 12. He averages 13.4 points and 6.1 rebounds a season, but was dominant during stretches to at the end of the regular season. In his last 12 games of the season, McCormack averaged 15.8 points and 5.8 rebounds and shot 56.9% from the field.
Enaruna, a 6-8 sophomore striker, averaged 2.8 points in 24 games off the bench.
With both players out, expect a bigger role for big man big man Mitch Lightfoot and former junior college transferor Tyon Grant-Foster.
With less than two weeks to go before the first round of the NCAA tournament and less than a week until the teams travel to Indianapolis, the programs take all necessary precautions to avoid positive COVID-19 testing. The NCAA announced in January that all participants in the Level 1 travel party, which includes student-athletes, coaches, coaches, physiotherapists, medical and team staff, and officers, must show seven consecutive negative COVID-19 tests. before reaching Indianapolis. .
Kansas avoided the long breaks related to COVID-19 that impacted more than 100 teams this season, even finishing its entire Big 12 program with one week left to finish the season.
“My guys and all of our staff have done an amazing job,” Self told ESPN’s Myron Medcalf last week. “So much of that is good luck, maybe good luck. Our guys did a good job putting them in the position to play the percentages … All of that could change next week. Our guys have been there pretty well.” .