Posted Thursday, March 28, 2019 5:10 pmBy KEITH TAYLOR, Kentucky Today
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KT) — PJ Washington doesn’t have a cast. Neither is he wearing a walking boot. The only question remains is whether or not the Kentucky forward will play Friday night. If you ask Washington, he doesn’t even know.
“I’m trying to get back to play, but right now, it’s up in the air,” Washington said Thursday.
For the first time since he sprained his left foot in the Southeastern Conference semifinals nearly two weeks ago, Washington spoke out publicly about his injury and was non-committal about a possible return to the court when the Wildcats take on Houston in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen here at the Spirit Center.
“I’m definitely ready to get back out there,” said Washington, who took part in the team’s practice session at the Sprint Center. “I definitely hated sitting on the sidelines and just watching, but if I could have played, I would have definitely been playing.”
Until Thursday, Washington had yet to put pressure on the foot and had not practiced with the team this week but is anxious to see how much pain he can bear while on the floor.
“All we do is pretty much run and I’m definitely good with that,” Washington said. “The biggest thing is just my pain tolerance. If I’m feeling good, I will talk to the coaches and we will go from there.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari said the team’s late tipoff Friday night gives Washington more time to heal up before making a return to the court. Washington has not played since the Wildcats’ 82-76 loss to Tennessee on March 16 in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals.
“The greatest thing for him is the doctor said you can’t hurt yourself (even more),” Calipari said. “If that were the case, I wouldn’t let him play. The doctor said, ‘you’re going to be in pain after the game if you do play, but you know how much pain you can deal with.’ He wants to play. Now, it is, can he play? We don’t know. If anybody is guessing, you know, we just don’t know yet.”
Calipari added that he would be “stunned” if Washington plays more than 15-18 minutes against the Cougars. He also wouldn’t be shocked if he was the team’s top cheerleader on the bench.
“If he doesn’t play at all, I would not be surprised,” he said.
Kentucky hasn’t had Washington and senior Reid Travis in the post as a duo for more than two games since Travis sprained his knee in a 66-58 win over Missouri on Feb. 19 and the idea of having both players on the floor at the same time excites Calipari.
“It would be nice to have a full team, but this is what’s happened, fate has intervened sometimes in our lives and some of it good and some of it bad,” the Kentucky coach said. “It gave EJ (Montgomery) and Nick (Richards) a chance. When PJ went down, it gave us a chance to put Keldon (Johnson) at the 4 and it gave Jermarl Baker a chance to play. At the end of the day, maybe it helped us.”
Travis knows the dilemma Washington is facing and is hopeful he will return.
“It felt good (to be back) and anytime you are out, it’s tough,” Travis said. “But when I got the news that I could come back and play, I was happy. It was exciting to get my body back in shape in rehab. I don’t know what’s going through PJ’s mind, but I’m sure he’s excited to get back on the court. I had the same feeling.”
Kentucky survived without Washington in opening-round wins over Abilene Christian and Wofford and the players learned they could proceed without their leading scorer and rebounder.
“We learned that we can fight,” freshman guard Tyler Herro said. “I think we can play with anybody, but we’re just taking it one game at a time … it will be good to have him back if he plays,” Herro said. “He just does everything on the floor. He rebounds, scores the ball and everything. We would love to have him back.”
Gametracker: Kentucky vs. Houston, 10 p.m., Friday. TV/Radio: TBS, UK Radio Network.
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21.
