Samford was already a problematic match up for Kansas, but bad luck hit the Jayhawks on Tuesday when the team’s leading scorer was ruled out for the NCAA Tournament.

The No.13-seed Bulldogs (29-5) take on four-seed Kansas at 8:55 p.m. on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Kansas will be without starting shooting guard Kevin McCullar, Jr., who leads the Jayhawks with 18.3 points per game. McCullar was ruled out for the NCAA Tournament by KU coach Bill Self due to an apparent bone bruise.

The Jayhawks were already thin before the loss of McCullar. Kansas ranked No.318 in bench minutes going into the NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, Samford’s full-court pressing style of basketball uses a constant rotation of bench players. Samford enters the Midwest Regional of the NCAA Tournament as champion of the SoCon while KU lost four of its last five including a blowout to Cincinnati in the opening game of the Big 12 tournament.

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Against the Bearcats, Kansas (22-10) was without McCullar and second-leading scorer Hunter Dickinson. Dickinson, an imposing 7-2 center, sat out the Big 12 tournament due to a separated shoulder. He’s back for the NCAA Tournament, but had his arm wrapped as a precaution on Wednesday here in Salt Lake City.

Kansas’ poor form is making Samford a trendy pick to pull an upset in the first round. Still, Samford forward Jermaine Marshall says he would rather play Kansas at full strength.

“I’m actually sad and a little disappointed that he’s not playing,” said Marshall, who is from the Birmingham area. “I want to say I hope he gets healthy. I also want to play Kansas at their [best]. I don’t want to play Kansas when they got guys out. I want to play the opponent at their best and I know what we can do at our best.”

Samford’s players were loose and relaxed during their time with reporters. During the open practice in the Delta Center, the Bulldogs worked on their signature version of the full-court press. The Bulldogs won an nation-best 17-straight games this season in addition to winning the SoCon regular-season championship with a couple games to spare.

Samford is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000, but the Bulldogs aren’t giving the tourist vibes.

“I know me personally,” Marshall said, “I know the way these guys think. We don’t think anybody is better than us. We feel every time we are on the court, we’re supposed to win. I don’t feel like it’s an upset. I feel like we gonna win. When we win, it’s not gonna be a surprise to us. It might be a surprise to all the brackets that are going to be messed up, but it definitely won’t be a surprise to us.”