Published Dec 23, 2023
Kevin McCullar battles through injury for career-high 34 points
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Joe Blake  •  JayhawkSlant
Staff Writer
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Kevin McCullar scored a career-high 34 points in the win over Yale on Friday night for Kansas, going 11-for-18 from the field. His night came after he suffered an injury during practice the day before, but that was never going to stop him.

“I went up for a layup in practice and dude landed on my head,” McCullar said. “It gets physical at KU practices so I was a little banged up, but [associate director of sports medicine Bill Cowgill] got me back right.”

Head coach Bill Self noticed that McCullar had a rough practice the day before, even though everyone on the team knew that he would play.

It looked like there would be a 50% chance he couldn't get back to the dormitory because of the pain,” Self said. “And then tonight he was fine and he was great.”

Nicolas Timberlake, who is in his sixth year of college basketball, was appreciative of his teammate’s toughness.

“One of the toughest teammates that I've ever had,” Timberlake said. “Just all the crazy injuries that he's gone through. The neck at Illinois, his back and then tweaking his neck yesterday. So, I mean, it's crazy watching him play and I love being on the court with him.”

McCullar has improved a lot of aspects of his game, but he displays his improvement the most when he scores the ball. His rise has captured the attention of NBA scouts, as he is now a projected first-round pick.

For Self, it is hard to picture McCullar outside of one of the top five players in the country.

“He's got to be one of the best five players in the country in college basketball so far,” Self said. “I don't know what that means, but who out there on the wing is having a better year than what he has? He's a lockdown defender, he's a two-way player. He's shooting a good percentage, and he's played in hard games.”

While Yale is nowhere near the best opponent Kansas has faced this year, the Jayhawks knew that it would be a tough one. It was also the first time that Hunter Dickinson did not score at least 13 points all year, as he had just eight.

When his co-star struggled, he managed to raise his game higher. While it could have been easy to look for his shot more as his total increased, he still let the game and the 34 points come naturally to him.

“No, I'm not even thinking about it,” McCullar said. “Worry about all that after the game. I was just glad that we came out and fought back and going into Christmas break with a win.”