Oscar Tshiebwe was named SEC Preseason Player of the Year at SEC Basketball Media Day in Birmingham Wednesday.
Tshiebwe was supposed to be in attendance for the event but stayed back in Lexington to continue recovering from a minor knee procedure to clean things up.
John Calipari provided an update on Tshiebwe Wednesday morning.
“Oscar had a procedure that, you know, he’s walking around, is not swelled already,” Calipari said. “But he’s not human. He’s a little different than the rest of us.”
Tshiebwe will be out of action for Kentucky’s Blue-White scrimmage Saturday at Pikeville, Calipari confirmed.
“To be honest, I can’t tell you,” Calipari said. “Because when I saw him yesterday, I just busted out laughing like, ‘you know, you’re supposed to be swelled, you’re supposed to be on crutches for a week.’
“He’s walking around, showing, ‘look, I’m fine and I’ve got no swelling,’ and so I just don’t know. You know me well enough; I’ll keep him out longer than he probably should. But he’s pretty resilient.”
In addition to Tshiebwe, Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware are also out of practice this week, leaving Kentucky with seven available players.
“Yesterday we had seven practice,” Calipari said. “We had managers, walk-ons, and a coach on the floor with us, so it’s hard to get better that way. But sometimes that stuff happens.”
Toppin’s injury occurred in practice Tuesday. “Nothing crazy,” Calipari said Wednesday. “Lance had a muscle pull. He had been out.”
