Bill Self: Udoka Azubuike Hopefully Available for Saturday After Knee Injury

Kansas center Udoka Azubuike's lingering knee problems have left his status for Saturday's NCAA tournament game up in the air. 

Per ESPN's Jeff Borzello, Jayhawks head coach Bill Self is hopeful Azubuike will be able to play after he was limited to three minutes in Thursday's 76-60 win over Penn:

"We only had five to six minutes with Dok. That's the max we could have. So using three the first half. If you watched him, he didn't move very well. And we would have put him in the second if we would have needed to, but foul situations didn't dictate that. 

"So we decided to go ahead, and hopefully we can get him at 80 percent, 85 percent tomorrow for full practice, and then have him available to us on Saturday."

Azubuike sat out the entire Big 12 tournament last week with a strained knee ligament. 

Per Gary Bedore of the Kansas City Star, Azubuike was wearing a thick brace on his left leg during Wednesday's practice. Self said afterward his star sophomore was "doing much better," but was going to make him a game-time decision against Penn.

The Jayhawks earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament with a 27-7 record and winning the Big 12 tournament. 

Azubuike leads Kansas with 7.1 rebounds per game and a 77.4 field goal percentage. His 13.7 points per game ranks third on the team.