The health of freshman center Joel Embiid has been a concern for the Kansas Jayhawks since Monday, when his playing time was limited because of back spasms during KU’s loss at Kansas State. Embiid has had tests, including a MRI on his back.
Kansas coach Bill Self held his weekly press conference Thursday and discussed Embiid’s status with the media. The bottom line is Embiid will not play Saturday against TCU in Lawrence if he doesn’t practice on Friday.
Here are the questions and answers regarding Embiid, courtesy of KU athletics communications.
Q. Any update on Joel Embiid for this weekend?
COACH SELF: No, not really. He feels better. He’s had, let’s see, Tuesday, Wednesday and today off and he feels better. Like I said before, the MRIs and things like that have been done tell us that there’s a good chance he’s going to get better quickly, that it’s not something that should linger too long, if, in fact, we treat it and rest it appropriately now.
A lot will depend on how he feels 24 hours from now, if he’s able to practice. If he’s able to practice then he’ll play, and if he’s not able to practice, then I would say he would not play.
Q. When you’re making that decision, do you think long‑term and maybe it would just better to sit him for a game?
COACH SELF: Of course you think long‑term, but you also know that he’ll have a better chance to perform in games in the future the less time he’s off now, too. We’re not going to do anything to jeopardize him at all, but the doctors and the trainers, they’ll make the call, along with Joel, (based) on him being honest with us on how he’s feeling. A lot of times there’s no reason to hold guys out if they’re healthy, too. We’ll make that determination in the next few days.
Q. Is Embiid just shooting?
COACH SELF: He’s not doing anything. He dressed out for practice yesterday and did absolutely nothing. Dressed out, so I guess like he felt like he was still part of the team. I don’t think he even shot free throws yesterday.
Q. Were there signs that Embiid didn’t look like himself the last couple games?
COACH SELF: Well, he’s landing on one foot. He’s not exploding. He’s looking around to see if he’s going to get hit as opposed to initiating contact because he’s sore and hurts in different areas. So, yeah, I think there are certainly some signs that he hasn’t been himself. Like I said before, it would be like if you’re a running back and your high ankle sprain hadn’t totally healed, but you could be out there but you’re still not going to be nearly as effective; that’s kind of where Joel is right now.
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