Tre Mitchell cheers for teammates during the win at Auburn. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky won at Auburn even though Tre Mitchell had to miss his second straight game with an injury he suffered the previous game against Ole Miss.
Will he play Wednesday night at LSU?
There’s been no official word and remember Mitchell missed games against Vanderbilt and Gonzaga because of ongoing back pain before returning to play 21 minutes against Ole Miss before running into a screen that put him out of the game.
Mitchell is averaging 12 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game and shooting almost 50 percent overall from the field. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas has called him UK’s “most indispensable player” while Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said he is “one of the best players in college basketball” in part because of the “poise and composure” he provides for UK’s freshmen.
Kentucky coach John Calipari said on his radio show Monday night that Mitchell didn’t practice fully Monday but did some running.
After Saturday’s win at Auburn, UK Radio Network analyst Jack Givens said he had talked to Mitchell.
“Tre said the day before (Thursday) he couldn’t raise his arm to his waist, the next day (Friday) he got it shoulder high and today (Saturday) he got it up over his shoulder. He just needs time,” Givens said.
Mitchell was smiling and celebrating UK’s win at Auburn — and may have been too good of a teammate. Apparently he got a little too excited jumping around and aggravated his injury just a bit.
My guess is Mitchell does not play against LSU to give his injury a few more days to heal and then he will be available when UK hosts Alabama in a huge showdown provided the Cats beat LSU Wednesday night.
18 Responses
I would let him rest vs lsu and have him comeback Saturday against Alabama. He should be fully healed or feel much better by Saturday. I would go with the same lineup we played with against auburn. Hopefully we can get the win and go against Alabama at full strength. If we can win these next 2 games we should end the week at #2 in the SEC or maybe even tied for first. Let’s go cats
Agree. Especially with the way Thiero is playing.
He deserves more playing time.
Mitchell comes back and Theiro should replace Edwards but Calipari won’t do it
They just mention he will not play at LSU. Hopefully will have him against Bama.
I would let him rest tomorrow unless he is 100%. He is too important to our tournament success to let a nagging injury slow him.
i agree Karen
Thiero is more important to this team then Mitchell, in my opinion. He is coming on strong and his physical strength and aggressive play is a much needed pressence for this young team. Loved the way they all picked up there intensity against Auburn. The cats will be tough for anybody to beat, if we play that aggressive every game. But isn’t that the problem with young teams? Will they show up the same for the rest of the season? I sure hope so, I just loved kicking Pearls a– 😁
It would be great to have them both healthy
Saving Mitchell for the Big Dance would be nice, but we have to get into the Big Dance first. I doubt that even Vanderbilt will play as bad as Auburn did which means we could lose 5 of the last 6 games on our schedule and be 0-1 in the SEC tourney. This would most likely have Not In Tournament implications if it comes to pass. Bringing back Mitchell to soon not only risks season ending injury, but also having a player who might be 50-60% effective at best. This just goes to show the importance of winning the early conference games. To think that we are going to have another "miracle" run like the 2014 team did is fodder that only rah rahs would clamor about. We have to play with the guys who are healthy and see how far we go. Right now, our best 5 is Onyenso, Thiero, Reeves, Dillingham, and Sheppard. This group should be playing 30 to 35 minutes, barring foul trouble or injury. Wagner has a bad ankle and should be used for relief only; Canada might even get pressed into service. Burks, then Edwards should be the first wings off the bench. Bradshaw will have to give Ugo a couple of minutes rest every 6 minutes with Z being an emergency option. IF that group can stay out of foul trouble and avoid injury, we could go 4-2, but that most likely will not secure a double bye in the SEC tussle. We have more IFs than answers. Calipari’s insistence on trying to develop his pets over developing his team has put us in ANOTHER precarious position heading into tournament play. If a COACH had been running this team, we could have possibly been a 3 loss team to date. It looks like we have been Caliparied…AGAIN!
No way going to lose 5 of 6
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. If you were coaching we would be undefeated! ! ! ROFLMAO!
All kinds of couch coaches on this site. It’s sickening seeing all this vitriol and piss takes being bandied about here like all of these fools could coach this team to a national championship. I bet they’d all suck Pitino off to get him back in the bluegrass, wishing for the good ol’ days. None of them understand…THE COLLEGE GAME HAS CHANGED. PLAYERS DO NOT HANG AROUND FOR 3-4 YEARS ANYMORE. There are no more commitments. Only who can get the best NIL deals.
I agree with your starting 5. Thiero and Onyenso provide the physicality that we need, especially against the stronger teams in the nation.
Piss takes. Every single comment you make is absolute word vomit. Calipari lives RENT FREE in your head. This site is loaded with fairweather cats fans. This team will be fine. There’s to much talent for them not to be. From the way you talk all of UK fandom should petition to put good ol’ Barry Pritchett, coach of the century in the driver’s seat.
Go sit down, my guy. Your hate is tiring…and frankly atrocious.
Shoulders and knee injuries can be loooong lasting – he may be out till tourney time and not fully healed then. ( this comes from someone with two artificial knees & shoulders + two back operations)
Wow Paul. That is tough to overcome. God bless you
Paul, I feel for you. I have arthritis in both shoulders and have had 7 laminectomies. My knees are still pretty good, but my back surgery was in May and I am still having problems with it. Hope you find some relief.
I have been watching college BB for 55 years and I’ve never seen such cry baby injuries in all my life. These guys work out in the weight room all the time, " physical specimens" they call them. Well, how will you reason that back in the 60s and 70s you never heard much about such injuries. Sissy-cakes I guess. Poor old Cal with excuse after excuse. How can a 10 mill a year guy be so unlucky, right??
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