Kansas men’s basketball power forward David McCormack will join the Jayhawks on Friday morning in Indianapolis and will practice that afternoon in advance of Saturday’s 12:15 p.m. NCAA Tournament game against Eastern Washington, KU coach Bill Self said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, if KU wins Saturday, small forward Jalen Wilson is expected to join the Jayhawks on Monday before their second-round game against either USC, Wichita State or Drake.
But reserve guard/forward Tristan Enaruna, who Self said tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday “after numerous negative tests in a row,” will not be able to join the Jayhawks until next Wednesday, if they advance to the Sweet 16, Self said.
Self said Wednesday that Wilson tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, which led to KU dropping out of the Big 12 Tournament prior to Friday’s scheduled semifinal versus Texas.
And Self also confirmed McCormack had tested positive for COVID several days before McCormack’s roommate, Enaruna tested positive.
“Good news, bad news,” Self said Wednesday, outlining what’s going on with KU’s roster. “David will be here in uniform on Saturday. Jalen could be in uniform on Monday. Tristan will not be in uniform the first two games.”
The announcement came March 9 that McCormack and Enaruna were in COVID-19 protocol.
“How much we can utilize David remains to be seen,” Self said of minutes in the Eastern Washington game, “just because how he feels and his timing and all those things. You will not be able to count on him for a significant number of minutes I don’t believe on Saturday even though it’d be nice if we could.”
Self summed up McCormack’s availability by saying: “I haven’t focused on anything other than this game. In this game we are focused on being without David and having David is a bonus as opposed to playing through David.”
Self said 6-6 Christian Braun and/or 6-5 Marcus Garrett could play some backup 5-man against Eastern Washington. Self also said 6-7 Tyon Grant-Foster figured to play in the game.
“We’ll be tiny,” Self said. “I don’t know if we’ve ever run a team out there this small. We’ll have to be very scrappy and aggressive.”
Self said McCormack has not been working out as of yet.
“He says he’s feeling well,” Self said. “I don’t know about any workout activity or anything like that he’d be doing on his own. He’s isolated to a room and dormitory. If he’s doing stuff it’s certainly hopefully because he’s feeling better, not something we have encouraged him to try to do.”
Obviously Wilson would be questionable for Monday’s game, considering that’s the day he can first arrive in Indy. He’ll have to be tested upon arrival.
“If it (game time) is later that would probably help,” Self said.
Self said the three positives were somewhat startling after having no stoppages this season because of COVID-19.
“When Jalen tested positive Friday that threw more concern in it for me, that, ‘What is going on here?’’’ Self said. “Tristan had to be quarantined. He’s David’s roommate. I’m sure that’s how he contracted it. We’ve done a really nice job, Our medical staff has been unbelievable as far as keeping guys away from people and isolated.
“(But) you start to worry if there’s something that has triggered something within our program that may not stop or could continue. Right now I’m nervous about each test but also very optimistic it’s going to be OK, too,” Self added.
He said the team has been practicing in Indy, but has not yet started fully preparing for Eastern Washington. He said McCormack would join Zoom meetings starting today regarding game prep for the Eagles.
