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Kentucky freshman guard D.J. Wagner has been dealing with an ankle injury since November when he was fouled in UK’s win over Miami.
He missed the next game — an unexpected loss to UNC-Wilmington in Rupp Arena. Despite the ankle still bothering him, Wagner continued to play with the pain and averaged 30 minutes per game after coming back until he missed UK’s game against Florida Jan. 31.
Wagner missed three games before coming back in UK’s loss to Gonzaga. He played 13 minutes and then played 18 minutes in Tuesday’s win over Ole Miss when he was put back in the starting lineup.
Kentucky will likely need a big game from Wagner today if it wants to compete at No. 13 Auburn, which is unbeaten at home this year.
Wagner said Friday his ankle has “been good” and treatments he has been taking have helped.
“After every game, after practice and stuff, I make sure I try to get as much treatment as I can. It’s been feeling good,” Wagner said.
He did confirm he has been stretching and icing the ankle since suffering the sprain and that’s why he says it is feeling “good” again now going into today’s game.
“We’ve got to prepare as much as possible,” Wagner said. “That’s something Coach always says, as long as you’re prepared, you shouldn’t have any type of nerves or anything like that. Preparing for the atmosphere and how intense the game is going to be.
“If we prepare as much as we can, we’ve got nothing to lose. That’s something coach always tells us, we’ve got nothing to lose, just play with an open mind.”
Wagner knows Auburn is coming off a 101-61 win over No. 11 South Carolina and is 13-0 at home this season. Auburn is scoring 86.8 points per game at home and allowing only 64.7.
“They’re a great team, well-coached,” Wagner said. “They play very intense. They’re a competitive team. I feel like it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be a good game.
“We’re excited, I’m excited. Just knowing the type of environment we’re gonna play in, and the type of team we’re going to play against. It’s going to be fun.”
If Kentucky can play better defense like it did most of the time against Mississippi that would help the Cats. Ugonna Onyenso blocked 10 shots against Ole Miss to obviously boost UK’s defense.
“It makes a huge impact, just knowing that we’ve got a great shot blocker back there, it gives us the confidence to push up on them even more,” Wagner said. “Try to defend the ball even more because we know if they get by us, Ugo will be back there to block it.”
5 Responses
The bad news is by the time the little Holloway kid and the other quick Auburn players blow by our defenders the Auburn big men will have cleared Ugo out of the way.
It’ll be wide open layups.
Auburn will score at will against this defense. UK’s only chance is to have an offensive explosion and outscore Auburn 100-99.
The Calipari lovers appreciate you throwing that bone in Professor, but pigs have a better chance of flying.
This is shaping up to be another national EMBARRASSMENT on the big stage for what used to be the Gold Standard for all of BB. As there are few cures for cancer there is only 1 cure for UK cancer and that is to send the Cal comedy show into extinction.
People have to remember that these are just kids compared to seasoned teams They are have played together for 3 to 4 years. Cats have the talent but you have to play a very good game nowadays to win on the road in the SEC