Andrew Carr didn’t play for Kentucky men’s basketball in SEC road loss at Vanderbilt

Another competitive SEC men’s basketball contest played out Saturday afternoon in Nashville, when head coach Mark Pope and No. 9 Kentucky (now 14-5 overall and 3-3 in SEC play) lost to Mark Byington’s Vanderbilt Commodores (16-4, 4-3) by a 74-69 score at Memorial Gym.

Kentucky fifth-year forward Andrew Carr was ruled out for the Wildcats in the game on the SEC injury report injury report Saturday afternoon.

This was the first game that Carr missed for UK this season.

Kentucky basketball injury report news

On Friday night’s injury report, Carr was listed as questionable, and Kerr Kriisa as out, for the Vanderbilt game.

In Saturday afternoon’s update, Carr was downgraded to out. This was the first game that Carr misses for UK this season.

Carr had started all 18 of UK’s games prior to Saturday’s meeting with the Commodores. He averages 10.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 26 minutes per game and is second on the team in field goal percentage at 53.9%.

Carr has been featured on recent SEC injury reports for Kentucky due to an ongoing back injury. Carr was listed as probable to play on the SEC injury report prior to last weekend’s home loss to Alabama, before later being removed from the report completely.

On UK’s pregame radio show Saturday, Pope said Carr had battled through the back injury in recent weeks, but that positive progress in Carr’s injury recovery hasn’t been made.

Senior forward Ansley Almonor started for Kentucky in Carr’s place.

Postgame, Pope said Carr hasn’t practiced in several weeks due to his back injury.

“Every game it’s kind of like, he just gets beat up so bad it’s back to square one, where it’s hard for him to walk essentially,” Pope said. “So, we’re hoping that with more time we can get him to some sustainable place where he can endure a practice and endure a game and not be back to zero. But, we’ll see if that actually happens. It’s complicated. You’re dealing in percentages. You’re not dealing in guarantees.”

On Thursday afternoon during his weekly press conference, Pope discussed whether his players had been able to use UK’s week off to get healthier.

“You’re just scrapping away at every single second … to try and be as healthy as you can,” Pope said. “But, everybody’s going to play hurt and play with injured guys. So we’re doing better. We’re really grateful for this week because it at least helps us make some progress.”

Kriisa — the fifth-year UK guard from Estonia who previously played at Arizona and West Virginia — remains out for the Wildcats.

He suffered a foot injury Dec. 7 during UK’s overtime win over Gonzaga in Seattle, and hasn’t played since. The day after that game, Kentucky announced that Kriisa’s injury required surgery.

Kriisa is now past the initial six-week timeline that Pope mentioned as an estimate for his return. There’s no updated timeline for when Kriisa will play, but Pope did discuss Kriisa’s recovery during his weekly radio show Monday night.

“His recovery so far has been completely predictable and scripted,” Pope said Monday. “And we’re going to know more in the next few weeks about whether this is going to kind of turn the corner and be on the quicker side or if this is going to be a complicated recovery. So we’re kind of moving into that window where we’re going to get some more information on his recovery.”

Vanderbilt basketball injury report news

Sixth-year guard Alex Hemenway was out for Saturday’s game.

Hemenway — who previously played five seasons at Clemson — is yet to play for Vanderbilt this season. On Jan. 15, Byington said that Hemenway “will be out for a while.” Hemenway last played in a college basketball game on Nov. 24, 2023.

Players designated as “out” on the SEC injury report have a 0% chance to play.

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