Norm Roberts outlines recovery timeline for Kyle Cuffe Jr.’s injury ahead of Duke

LAWRENCE — Kansas men’s basketball’s 2022-23 regular season will continue Tuesday when it faces No. 8 Duke at the Champions Classic in Indianapolis.

The No. 5 Jayhawks, 2-0 after starting the season with wins against Omaha and North Dakota State, enter the contest in search of a third-straight win. Kansas assistant coach Norm Roberts, the interim head coach, will lead Kansas in its most significant game to date. With the Jayhawks defending as well as they have been, they should have a chance against the Blue Devils (2-0).

Here are five things to think about ahead of Tuesday’s 8:30 p.m. ESPN game:

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Kyle Cuffe Jr. suffered an injury in practice

Roberts said Sunday that redshirt freshman guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. recently suffered a knee injury in which he tore his MCL and PCL in practice. Roberts noted there’s hope Cuffe will be able to return to basketball activities in 10-to-12 weeks. And, at the moment, they don’t believe surgery is required.

Cuffe had appeared in both games so far this season, coming off the bench each time for limited minutes. He redshirted last season as Kansas went on its national championship run. Coming out of high school, he was a 247Sports Composite four-star prospect.

The changed lead-up to the Champions Classic should help Kansas

Last season, Kansas’ Champions Classic matchup served as its first regular season game. Same for the 2019-20 season, and the season before that. But this season the Jayhawks have had games against Omaha and North Dakota State, and redshirt junior guard Dajuan Harris Jr. anticipates that helping his team out as it readies to face the Blue Devils.

Harris described the initial games as an extended warmup ahead of Kansas’ matchup with Duke. He thinks that means the Jayhawks won’t encounter some first-half struggles they might have otherwise. Defensively, he doesn’t see Kansas playing at the level it is right now without those two contests.

Zach Clemence is day-to-day

Jayhawks sophomore forward Zach Clemence took a hit to the face last week during their game against North Dakota State, and Roberts said Clemence is doing better. Clemence’s status is day-to-day, the coach said. Roberts didn’t anticipate Clemence practicing Sunday and wasn’t sure if he would play Tuesday either.

Clemence has appeared in each of Kansas’ games, coming off the bench both times. He’s been at best the third option among the Jayhawks’ bigs to this point. But if he’s unavailable that hurts the Jayhawks’ depth and highlights the need for freshman forward Zuby Ejiofor to be ready to go.

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Duke has a new head coach, but it’s still Duke

Jon Scheyer took over as Duke’s head coach ahead of this season, following Mike Krzyzewski, but it doesn’t appear Kansas is looking at the Blue Devils much differently than they would have in the past. Roberts said Duke is pressuring defensively like always, and talented and versatile as always. Considering how successful Krzyzewski was, Roberts anticipates Scheyer taking a lot from working with and playing for Krzyzewski.

Roberts thinks it’s too early this season to know exactly how similar Scheyer’s team will play compared to Krzyzewski’s teams of the past. But as Kansas redshirt junior forward Jalen Wilson said, it’s still Duke basketball. It’s still a blue-blood matchup.

“The Kansas, UNC, Duke, like those, even Michigan State, we’re all there and competing every single year,” Wilson said. “It just shows the level of basketball. You’ve got Hall of Fame coaches all around and it’s just great basketball, great basketball minds, and you have to come to play.” 

Blue Devils will test Jayhawks’ freshmen

Ejiofor and his fellow freshmen, guard Gradey Dick, guard MJ Rice and center Ernest Udeh Jr., all deserve praise for how they’ve played so far this season. Dick is the team’s second-leading scorer and has a couple starts under his belt. But this will be the most significant game yet in their college careers.

“We talked to them about, 'Hey, this is big-boy ball and the bottom line is you’ve got to come ready to play,’” Roberts said. “The stakes are a little bit more magnified because in these first two games, you could maybe get away with some stuff from an athletic standpoint being bigger, stronger, maybe faster or having the lead and those things. That’s not what’s going to happen (vs. Duke).”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.