LAWRENCE, Kan. On a night seven-footer Udoka Azubuike suffered a high right ankle sprain that will keep him out indefinitely, Kansas No. 2-ranked basketball team managed a 72-47 victory over unranked Wofford on Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
Were not gonna have Doke. Dokes hurt pretty good. Hes got a high ankle sprain. Hell be out indefinitely, KU coach Bill Self said at halftime of the TV broadcast of the game.
Azubuike, who grabbed four rebounds in four minutes played the first half, went down under the defensive goal with 11:38 remaining and KU up, 13-12. He fell on the ankle after trying to block the shot of Nathan Hoover, who scored on the play.
Azubuike was helped off the court to the locker room, putting no weight on his right foot or leg as he exited.
Meanwhile, KU received virtually no production from senior guard Lagerald Vick. Taken out of the starting lineup as a penalty for being late for shootaround Tuesday, he scored zero points on 0-for-3 shooting in 22 minutes. He had two turnovers and a steal in the first half as KU managed a 29-26 lead at the break.
Marcus Garrett started and responded with seven points and seven boards
It was Dedric Lawson who led KU in scoring on this occasion, finishing with 20 points on 10 of 17 shooting with eight rebounds. Devon Dotson contributed 16 points and Quentin Grimes 14 as KU improved to 7-0. Wofford fell to 6-3.
Assistant coach Kurtis Townsend reported that Vick had been tardy for shootaround on the pre-game radio show on the Jayhawk radio network.
Meanwhile, Wofford, a team that beat South Carolina by 20 points on Nov. 26 and fell by just 11 points to North Carolina on Nov. 6 and 11 to Oklahoma on Nov. 18, was led by the 15-point, 10-rebound outing of Cameron Jackson. Sharpshooter Fletcher Magee scored just seven points on 1 of 14 shooting. He was 0-for-9 from 3-point range. Wofford hit 5 of 26 3s and 26.2 percent overall. KU hit 3 of 23 3s but 49 percent overall.
KU used a 27-0 run to turn a 43-41 lead into a 70-41 advantage at the 4-minute mark. Grimes had 10 points in the run, while four other Jayhawks scored. KU also used an 11-0 run to turn a 32-29 deficit into a 40-32 lead at 14:51. Dotson had five and Lawson four in that run.
Wofford defeated North Carolina a year ago and in the 17-year Mike Young era has downed Auburn, Cincinnati, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Purdue, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Xavier and Wake Forest.
