Calipari says he regrets playing TyTy Washington after another injury in loss to Tennessee
Kentucky Wildcats basketball star TyTy Washington returned to the court as a starter in UK’s game at Tennessee on Tuesday night, but he was forced to leave early in the second half with an injury.
Washington, who was knocked out of the second half of UK’s victory over Florida on Saturday with a “lower left leg” injury, was questionable for the game in Knoxville on Tuesday night. The freshman guard ended up making the start and tallying four points and three assists in the first half, though he didn’t look like he was 100 percent healthy.
Less than a minute into the second half, Washington tried to drive to his left and turned the ball over, eventually falling to the ground with an injury to the same left leg. He was helped to the Kentucky bench with 19:15 left in the game and Tennessee leading 46-32.
There was no immediate word from UK on Washington’s status, but he did not return to the game. Tennessee defeated Kentucky 76-63.
“If I had to do it over, I would not have played TyTy — I shouldn’t have played him,” UK Coach John Calipari said after the game. “I asked him twice, ‘Why don’t you just step back?’ He said, ‘I can do this.’ And then I was going to not play him in the second half. And I did. … I should have just gone with my gut.”
Washington is averaging 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game and is Kentucky’s second-leading scorer behind star post player Oscar Tshiebwe. The freshman guard is also the top NBA Draft prospect playing for the Wildcats this season, projected as a 2022 lottery pick.
He missed the final 12:50 of the game against Florida on Saturday evening after colliding with a Gators player while fighting for a loose ball. UK Coach John Calipari said after the game that the injury was not expected to keep Washington out of action for an extended period of time, though he did say the UK star could miss a week or two of games.
Washington injured his left ankle early in Kentucky’s game at No. 1 Auburn last month. He missed the remainder of that game and UK’s next game before returning to the court a week later at Kansas.
UK has lost only two games in the past two months — at Auburn and at Louisiana State — and Washington was injured and unable to return in both of those defeats.
Kentucky’s next game is Saturday against Alabama in Lexington, but Calipari wasn’t sure Tuesday night if Washington would be available by the weekend.
“We’ll have to see. We’ve got some time,” he said. “We have a few days before we have to play again. We’ll see if he’s going to be able to go.”
