Mark Pope talks injuries, possibility of burning Braydon Hawthorne's redshirt

Kentucky found a way to win its first game without Kam Williams, but it wasn’t easy. The Cats were plagued by foul trouble throughout the game, especially in the frontcourt. With Williams out for a while with a broken foot and Jayden Quaintance out indefinitely with swelling in his knee, the Cats could use another piece on the wing. What about Braydon Hawthorne? When asked about burning the freshman’s redshirt today, Pope revealed that Hawthorne is battling a calf injury, which puts that out of the realm of possibility for now.

“It’s something that has certainly been a discussion,” Pope said after the 72-63 win over Ole Miss. “There are so many dynamics that, most importantly, right now, he is not healthy. We can’t burn the redshirt now, because he’s not healthy. But you know, certainly, he is an incredibly talented player who could really help us down the road. We’ll see. He’s got to get healthy first.”

During his pregame conversation with Tom Leach, Pope said that Williams underwent a successful surgery on his foot on Friday after breaking it during the win over Texas on Wednesday. Williams’ father, Greg, told KSR’s Jack Pilgrim that the best-case timeline for recovery is six to eight weeks, which could allow him to return for the postseason.

“Surgery was perfect yesterday,” Pope said. “It’s beautiful. We saw all the imaging, and it was unbelievable, by a world-renowned surgeon.”

“I don’t know if Kam will be ready for Tuesday,” he added later on. “We’ll see — that was a joke. Just in case. I saw everybody jump to their phone, like, ‘I gotta tweet this out.’ It’s a joke. I can confirm that he will not play on Tuesday.”

Another injured Cat, Jaland Lowe, was not on the sideline today because he’s on his way to get surgery. The procedure on his shoulder will keep him out for the rest of the season.

“J. Lowe is on his way to get surgery with a surgeon we trust in a different part of the country, that our medical crew sent him to, and so all those guys are on the mend.”

Get well soon, Kam, Jaland, Braydon, and Jayden. To the rest of the Cats, stay healthy, please.