Auburn players leave the court after nasty collision

With Auburn leading 55-33 with 14:28 remaining in the first half against Jacksonville State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, two Tigers were involved in a scary collision on the court. As Walker Kessler went up to block a shot, he came down and his arm swung out and hit his teammate Jaylin Williams in the mouth.

Both Kessler and Williams were left bloody from the play. Kessler had a gash on his elbow, and Williams apparently lost a tooth and remained on the court for a bit following the play.

Once Kessler and Williams walked off the court, they both departed for the Auburn locker room.

“Walker Kessler and Jaylin Williams remain in the locker room right now,” CBS’ Tracy Wolfson said. “For Jaylin Williams, he chipped his two front teeth and is in a lot of pain, I was told. Walker Kessler has an extremely large gash on his elbow, so he’s being attended to as well. They didn’t mention whether they would need stitches or not, but right now they’re undecided whether either one of those players will return [though] it seems likely in a situation like this.”

TruTV said that Jaylin Williams chipped his tooth on Walker Kessler's elbow, and I genuinely think there is a piece of tooth inside that gash pic.twitter.com/NrPnvOAi9Q

— Simon Gibbs (@SimonGibbs26) March 18, 2022

Kessler returned to the court with just under 12 minutes remaining in the game. That is incredibly impressive, especially considering that he could have had parts of Williams’ teeth in his elbow.

it happened right in front of me and @Tomas_Verde

Kessler came over to look at his elbow and there was definitely a piece of tooth in there

Zep Jasper looked at it and then over to both of us with his eyes wide https://t.co/7hf224SYP2

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) March 18, 2022

Kessler, Williams have both played well for Auburn

Kessler has begun the game with nine points on 4-for-7 shooting, also adding seven rebounds, one assist, one steal and six blocks against Jacksonville State. Williams has eight points and one rebound in the contest, and has connected on all three of his shots, including two from beyond the arc.

Both Kessler and Williams are key parts of Auburn’s attack. It is a great sign that Kessler was able to return to the game for the Tigers, even though the Tigers have a pretty commanding lead. Williams is likely out for the rest of the game, considering the nature of his injury. Now, Auburn will hope that he is good to go moving forward.

If Auburn holds on against Jacksonville State, the Tigers will face off against the winner of Friday’s matchup between USC and Miami on Sunday.