Kansas’ Simien hurt; how badly to be seen

Kansas University’s hard-earned victory over South Carolina won’t be deemed an unqualified success for a while — not until X-rays and/or MRIs come back on Wayne Simien’s left thumb.

KU’s senior power forward was whacked hard on the thumb while going up for a shot in the paint with 13:45 left. No foul was called despite the mugging in the lane, which forced him to head to the locker room for three minutes to get the thumb wrapped.

“We’ll get X-rays, and hopefully nothing is broken. If it is, he’ll be out a long time,” KU coach Bill Self said. “We certainly hope and pray that it isn’t bad.”

Simien wasn’t available for interviews after the game and instead was examined by medical personnel. Self said he hoped to have results of tests back sometime today.

“Wayne gets less respect than any good player that I have coached. They fouled him really hard, and nothing was called,” Self said. “He is injured. To what extent, we don’t know.”

Wrong goal

Freshman C.J. Giles scored a bucket for South Carolina with 1:06 left in the first half, KU down 28-25 at the time. He grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw and put the ball back in.

“People make mistakes,” J.R. Giddens said. “Hey, he’ll get over it.”