KU’s Jalen Coleman-Lands playing through injury that is ‘very, very, very painful’
Kansas reserve guard Jalen Coleman-Lands has scored 15 points while playing 22 minutes combined in season-opening men’s basketball victories over Michigan State and Tarleton State.
That’s a significant contribution from the 6-foot-4 Super Senior from Indianapolis, considering he’s been hobbled by a foot injury.
“I was happy to see it because he’s not been healthy. He’s not healthy now,” KU coach Bill Self said of the transfer from Iowa State.
Coleman-Lands scored 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting (2-of-2 from three-point range) in the Jayhawks’ 88-62 victory over Tarleton State Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse. He was 1-for-5 for five points, hitting one three-pointer in three attempts, in an 87-74 Champions Classic victory over the Spartans Nov. 9 in New York.
“He has a cracked toe,” Self said. “Every time he gets it stepped on it’s very, very, very painful for him. It’s hard to avoid that. Even though you probably don’t sit out for that, he’s got to deal with it.”
Coleman-Lands had his injured toe “stepped on hard” at practice on Tuesday, Self revealed on Tuesday night’s Hawk Talk radio show.
“It certainly affected him today,” Self said of Coleman-Lands, who also has played at Illinois and DePaul in addition to one season at Iowa State (2020-21).
“He’ll get treatment and hopefully be ready to go by practice tomorrow,” Self said. “We need him to be confident. When you run bad offense, you can still come away with three points when certain guys shoot the ball. He is one of those guys.”
Self said Coleman-Lands, who missed 10 days of preseason practice because of the cracked toe, will continue to receive treatment before practices and games. The No. 3-ranked Jayhawks (2-0) play Stony Brook (0-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“We’re hopeful that it’s going to be something that will heal up in the next three to four weeks,” Self said. “I”m not a doctor by any stretch (but) it takes a certain period of time to heal regardless if you are off of them (feet) or not off of them. We have not given it that much time to heal yet. I’m hopeful it’ll be sooner rather than later.”
Self praises Ochai Agbaji
KU senior guard Ochai Agbaji, the Big 12’s player of the week, has scored 54 points combined in wins over Michigan State and Tarleton State.
His 54 points are the most for a Jayhawk through the first two games of a season in the 19-year Self era . Frank Mason III scored 51 points against Indiana and Duke to open the 2016-17 campaign.
The two 20-point efforts marked the eighth and ninth 20-point efforts of Agbaji’s four-year career.
“After two games I don’t really see how there has been a better guard, a better 2 or 3 guard, in the country,” Self said of the 6-5 Oak Park High graduate. “He’s got to keep it going. Two games don’t mean anything. We have had a lot of players have really good first and second games and go into a dry spell at any time. He’s a real confident player right now.”
Wilson nearing end of suspension
KU sophomore forward Jalen Wilson will miss Thursday’s game against Stony Brook because of the three-game suspension he incurred after an arrest for suspicion of DUI.
After that, he’ll be available to play in the ESPN Events Invitational on Nov. 25, 26 and 28 in Orlando.
“Fans will see this,” Self said. “We may not always play better, but when Jalen is out there we play so much faster.
“You’d think, ‘How would you play faster when you’ve got a 6-8 guy out there?’ Well, we (do) play faster (with Wilson). It’ll be good when he gets back. We’ve still got another week obviously. I’m excited for that as well.”
Self said Wilson is “a much more confident player than he was last year, and he was pretty darn good at the beginning.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "KU’s Jalen Coleman-Lands playing through injury that is ‘very, very, very painful’."
