photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas head coach Bill Self slaps hands with Kansas guard Jalen Coleman-Lands as players grab their bags upon the Jayhawks' arrival at their hotel in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday, March 15, 2022.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self said Tuesday that sixth-year senior center Mitch Lightfoot is still aiming to play in the first-round NCAA Tournament game against Texas Southern or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday despite a sprained left knee.

Lightfoot injured the knee with 7:26 remaining in the 74-65 victory over Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday. Redshirt sophomore forward Jalen Wilson was guarding Texas Tech guard Adonis Arms on a drive to the basket when he fell backward and into Lightfoot’s legs, undercutting his teammate.

Lightfoot was examined by athletic trainer Bill Cowgill on the sideline, then taken to the locker room for further evaluation. He returned to the bench with 3:57 remaining, about 12 minutes later in real time, and was wearing sweatpants.

“He’s day to day, which, from what Bill tells me, and what the docs and Mitch tell me, is that he’s going to do everything he possibly can to play,” Self said. “If I know Mitch, six years — you’re not going to sit out your last tournament, but the question is not if he plays, I think, moving forward. The question is if he will be healthy enough to play on Thursday, and if he is, we’re not going to put him out there if he’s in jeopardy, so that will be a good sign for us.

“But we’ll just wait and see how he feels. If we had played today, he wouldn’t have played, but he’s made such good progress each day, so we can understand, and he thinks he’ll be ready to go by Thursday, but we’ll see. It’s day to day and we’re not going to put him in jeopardy.”

Self said Kansas, the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, held a walkthrough on Monday and “had a hard practice for 35 minutes” earlier Tuesday before traveling. Lightfoot was “very, very limited” in that practice.

Lightfoot, who is averaging 4.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game this season, appeared to be walking fine when players arrived at their hotel Tuesday evening but did not stop to talk to reporters. He was able to climb a ladder, albeit gingerly, when cutting down the nets after the victory on Saturday.

His injury further muddies the rotation at center, with starter David McCormack, a senior, continuing to manage a sore foot that required surgery on a broken bone nearly a year ago. McCormack played a combined 23:45 in the first two Big 12 tournament games, then was able to play 28:59 against Texas Tech — a game in which he finished with team highs of 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Self said freshmen Zach Clemence and KJ Adams earned additional time in practice as McCormack’s backups in Lightfoot’s absence but downplayed that as insignificant.

“And the other thing is, guys, we practiced one day,” Self said. “We didn’t practice yesterday, so there’s not a huge difference.”

Safe travels for Jayhawks

The Jayhawks arrived at their hotel at around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday after what Self said was “a pretty easy flight.”

The team planned to eat dinner together, then would reconvene later to begin preparing for the winner of the First Four game.

“I think they’re feeling great,” Self said. “We got some pep in our step after (winning the Big 12 tournament in) Kansas City and watching the selection show, just like everybody else. Even though it’s a short season, it’s by far the most important season, and that season could last all of 40 minutes and it could run and last for three weeks if you get lucky, so our guys are excited and light on our feet right now.”

Self said that given the uncertainty of the first-round opponent, he spent the last day preparing for No. 8 seed San Diego State and No. 9 seed Creighton, whom Kansas would meet in the second round.

That changes as of Tuesday night, once Kansas’ first-round opponent is known.

“From this point forward, it’s all the winner of that game, which still gives us plenty of time because the (scouting report is) already done with that in mind,” Self said.