Jayhawk report: Perry Ellis likely to miss regular-season finale with sprained knee

Tuesday’s box score

Kansas junior forward Perry Ellis probably will miss Saturday’s game at No. 15 Oklahoma after spraining his right knee in Tuesday night’s 76-69 overtime victory over West Virginia.

After the game, coach Bill Self said MRI results on Ellis’ knee were positive, but it’s still likely he will be out a week. He could return to play in the NCAA Tournament.

“We don’t know the extent of it, but the good news is we think he can be back in about a week or so,” Self said.

Ellis was limited to just 17 minutes before injuring his knee in the first half when teammate Landen Lucas rolled onto his leg while falling to the court. A candidate for Big 12 player of the year, Ellis has been at his best in February, raising his season scoring average to 14.2 points per game. Ellis had four points in the first half on Tuesday.

Garrett’s time

Christian Garrett made his first career start Tuesday on senior night. For more than four seasons, Garrett has been a mostly anonymous walk-on at Kansas. This is somewhat ironic, because Garrett, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, might have the most interesting family background in the program.

His mother, Cynthia, is a professional actress and former television host on VH1. Cynthia’s step-brother is rock star Lenny Kravitz. And Garrett has two cousins (Mike Garrett and Chris Chambliss) who made careers in professional sports.

“My life has been really unique, just because I’ve gotten to see every spectrum — every end,” Garrett said on Monday. “Me and my mom, we’ve lived really, really poor. And we’ve lived really, really well. I’ve gotten to meet some really cool people and be around some really cool people, and I’ve gotten to go home to my family and they don’t live in the nicest neighborhoods. It’s been really cool for me to be able to experience that from a young age, all kinds of worlds.”

Garrett, a native of Los Angeles, arrived at Kansas as a walk-on midway through the 2010-11 season. Garrett, who attended IMG Academy in Florida, was high school teammates with KU big man target DeAndre Daniels, a top-10 recruit who eventually chose UConn and helped the Huskies win an NCAA title last season.

Kansas hoped to land both, but Garrett stuck in the KU program as a walk-on, growing into what Kansas coach Bill Self calls the program’s “spiritual leader.”

“He’s a great kid,” Self said, “just like a lot of other guys that have been through here and paid their dues.”

Langford looks back

Keith Langford, a former Jayhawks star who was at KU for the origin of the 11 straight Big 12 titles during his senior season in 2004-05, is proud of the current streak but also has a mild regret.

“I watch sometimes, and when the commentators mention the streak and how long it's been, I cringe,” Langford said in an interview from Russia, where he’s playing for BC UNICS. “I cringe because the class I was a part of won three out of four, so I cringe at what could have been had we found a way to get it together that third season.”

The Jayhawks finished 12-4 in the Big 12 in 2003-04, tying for second place in Bill Self’s first year at Kansas and the junior season for Langford, Aaron Miles, Wayne Simien and Michael Lee. First-place Oklahoma State took the title at 14-2.

“It's so hard to win anything,” Langford said. “I really hope the fans, the teams in the Big 12, the college basketball world and all KU players that have had a hand in this don't take this run for granted.

“Funny thing is, at that time we thought three out of four was a dominant stretch. Little did we know.”

Rustin Dodd

This story was originally published March 3, 2015 at 11:29 PM with the headline "Jayhawk report: Perry Ellis likely to miss regular-season finale with sprained knee."