Kansas suffers critical injury ahead of Kentucky matchup in Champions Classic

Kentucky Basketball has been battling the injury bug since back in the summer practice season. Thankfully, the Wildcats are getting healthy as regular-season play heats up, especially with Kam Williams making his return last week.

The same cannot be said for the Kansas Jayhawks, who Kentucky will face in Tuesday’s Championship Classic without one of their most important players.

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On Monday, Kansas announced that sixth-year senior Melvin Council Jr. suffered a broken foot and will be out indefinitely. The school is hopeful that the 6-foot-4, 180-pound Council will return around the start of conference play, but for now, the standout guard will be out for the foreseeable future.

That’s a massive loss for the Jayhawks, as Council is the team’s top point guard and easily one of their best players. Last season, he averaged 12.7 points, 5.1 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game.

Through two games this year, he’s averaged 8.0 points, 5.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals in 21 minutes per game. The class of 2021 high school prospect is currently eligible thanks to a court injunction.

Without Council, Kansas will rely on true freshman Taylor Kinney, a native of Kentucky, and sophomore Leroy Blyden, a transfer from Toledo who Kentucky showed interest in this past offseason.

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Council infamously said he was considering Kentucky prior to making his commitment on October 4. As it turned out, Kentucky, nor anyone on Council’s list, was even recruiting him, as his return to Kansas had already been a done deal, and he was simply trolling other schools.

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/kansas-suffers-critical-injury-ahead-204320128.html

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Publish date : 2026-11-09 20:43:00

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