SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Since the news broke that Kansas basketball would be without graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. due to injury for the NCAA tournament, speculation has swirled about McCullar’s status.

But Thursday, ahead of the Jayhawks’ game against the Samford Bulldogs, KU coach Bill Self took a rare trip to social media to address what’s being said. Self, whose No. 4-seed Kansas (22-10) team will have a battle against No. 13-seed Samford (29-5) in March Madness, defended McCullar.

While it’s not something that’ll likely satisfy everyone, it’s a gesture that will mean a lot to those on McCullar’s side.

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“I am not on social media much but since announcing Kevin would not play in the tournament, I’ve been told Kevin and this situation have been portrayed inaccurately,” Self posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “What I said in a 45 second video clip is true. His knee hasn’t improved in the last two weeks. It hurts too much to continue playing. He hasn’t practiced in 6 weeks. We made the decision to shut him down. That’s all 100 percent accurate, but what I didn’t say has caused a false narrative to question Kevin inappropriately. He worked tirelessly in rehab to try to play and everyone within the program knows it. We’ve known the only way the bone bruise would heal is time off. Kevin elected not to do that and try to play. For 6 weeks, it’s been one step forward two steps back. He hurt it worse in the KSU game and tried to play at Houston. Since then, all involved felt 9 days off would position him to play in the tournament. That did not happen. It hasn’t progressed and made the improvement we had hoped. At that time our team doctors collectively came to the decisions to not play and allow the healing process to not be interrupted. We will support him through this process.  Kevin tried for himself, his teammates, and also the KU faithful. We are all disappointed Kevin can’t play but should appreciate the effort that he’s made. Kevin will take on the role of asst. coach during the tournament.”

McCullar, an All-America caliber talent when healthy, has been one of Kansas’ top scorers and a lead presence defensively. What he’s able to do on both ends of the court made him a great fit for the Jayhawks. It’s unfortunate his college career is ending the way it is.

McCullar transferred to Kansas ahead of the 2022-23 season and helped lead the Jayhawks to a Big 12 Conference regular season championship that first year. In his second year with the program, after testing the NBA draft process again, the team fell short of another championship during the regular season and wasn’t able to win the conference tournament either.

If McCullar was healthy, Kansas likely would have been celebrating at least one more of those.

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The pressure on the likes of freshman guard Elmarko Jackson and graduate senior guard Nicolas Timberlake will rise with McCullar being out. Regardless of who starts, that duo will need to produce more to keep the Jayhawks’ hopes of a NCAA tournament run alive. But whatever happens, they’ll have McCullar alongside side of them.

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

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This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball coach Bill Self talk Kevin McCullar Jr. in March