Top-ranked Kansas has suspended star freshman Josh Jackson for the Jayhawks' opening game of the Big 12 Tournament after he backed into a parked car last month and fled the scene.
Kansas coach Bill Self announced the punishment Wednesday. The No. 1 seed Jayhawks will play eighth-seeded TCU or No. 9 seed Oklahoma in the quarterfinals Thursday.
Self said the incident happened on Feb. 2 and that Jackson has "acknowledged his responsibility and handled it himself, but he didn't tell me about it until Monday."
This hit-and-run is the latest in a string of off-court issues affecting the team that is projected to be the number 1 seed overall in the upcoming NCAA tournament.
Earlier this season, Jackson was charged with misdemeanor criminal damage to property for allegedly kicking and damaging another student's car outside of the Yacht Club.
Jackson and four of his teammates are also listed as potential witnesses on a police report in connection with an alleged rape inside McCarthy Hall, where members of the men’s basketball team live. The investigation into the alleged rape is still ongoing.
"A lot of that stuff has been brought up, and I am not even one to go watch basketball a lot, but I have been hearing tons about that,” said Shannon Seals, a first year KU Masters student. "I have heard more about that then the games, actually.”
Following the investigation at McCarthy Hall, campus police cited sophomore forward Carlton Bragg Jr. for possession of drug paraphernalia.
And after the team clinched its historic 13th Big 12 title, police arrested junior guard Devonte Graham for failing to appear in court for an expired tag.
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