Andrew Carr injury update: Kentucky makes final decision on forward's status vs. Tennessee

Andrew Carr will be available for Kentucky on Tuesday against Tennessee. The Wildcats forward is off the injury report.

Carr has been dealing with a back injury, throwing his status for Tuesday’s game into question. He missed Kentucky’s last game against Vanderbilt and entered this week as “questionable” for the road showdown against Tennessee. Now, it appears he’s good to go.

Kentucky will be without Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa on Tuesday, though, according to the availability report. Butler was officially ruled out Monday while Kriisa continues to deal with his foot injury.

Mark Pope previously deemed Carr “day-to-day” with the injury and pointed out the standout forward’s desire to be back on the court. However, Carr was “trending in the wrong direction” ahead of the Vanderbilt game.

“I’ve probably done a bad job with [Carr],” Pope said after the loss. “He wants to play so bad and we were just kind of seeing a decline in his performance because there’s just so much he can’t do with his back. We were trending the wrong direction.

“Injuries are hard. These calls are really hard. What we’re hoping is that we can get to a space sometime in the next few weeks, the next few days, somewhere where we have enough confidence. He hasn’t practiced in a couple weeks. And 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.”

Carr ranks fourth on the Kentucky roster with 10.9 points per game entering Tuesday night’s game. He’s one of the most efficient Wildcats, though, ranking second with a 53.9% field goal percentage through 18 appearances.

To get back on the court, though, Andrew Carr had to be able to work through pain without going back to Square One. That’s why Mark Pope said Monday would be important to determine his status against Tennessee.

“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,” Pope continued. “But, we’ll see if that actually happens.

“It’s complicated. You’re dealing in percentages. You’re not dealing in guarantees. We just thought we’d take a swing at this and we’ll kind of gauge him tomorrow and gauge him Monday.”

Kentucky is looking to right the ship after back-to-back losses in SEC play. Vanderbilt was the latest defeat as UK fell 74-69 in Nashville on Saturday, one week after a loss to Alabama. Still, the Wildcats are 14-5 overall and 3-3 heading into Tuesday’s game against Tennessee at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.