Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, whose team has a legitimate chance to win the national championship in a year where there are no great teams out there, isn”t takng any chances with the health of his valuable 7-0 freshman center Joel Embiid. Self has announced Embiid will miss Kansas’ final two regular-season games vs. Texas Tech on March 5 and at West Virginia on March 8, due to a lower back strain. The Jayhawks have already captured the big 12 regular season title.
“Joel re-aggravated a spot in his lower back that he was dealing with a few weeks ago,” Self explained. “We had another MRI performed. We’ve also spoken with experts with this particular injury and have been told the same thing we were told before, rest is the best remedy.”
Embidd, who is a candidate for the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft should he declare, leads Kansas in rebounding with an 8.1 per game average and is averaging 1.2 blocks. Embidd, who is from Yaounde, Cameroon, only played one year of organazed high school basketball in the states before entering Kansas He missed the Jayhawks’ home contest against TCU on Feb. 15 with the same injury, but returned to average 14.0 points and 10.3 rebounds in the four games since.
“It should not be an injury that keeps him out for the rest of the season,” Self assured. “Last time he was off five days and that worked very nicely for him and he was able to come back and be 100 percent.”
Embiid is coming off back-to-back double-doubles with 12 points and 13 rebounds against Oklahoma and 13 points and 13 rebounds at Oklahoma State. Self and his staff will monitor Embiid’s progress and determine his status after Kansas plays at West Virginia Saturday.
