Chucky Hepburn, James Scott injury updates: Pat Kelsey reveals status vs. NC State

Pat Kelsey provided the latest on two of his Cardinals on Monday.

In his pregame press conference today, Kelsey had updates on both of G Chucky Hepburn and C James Scott for Louisville.

Kelsey began by saying Hepburn, who missed their last game with a groin injury, is day-to-day with them having hopes that he’ll be back for their next game this week.

“Yeah, so, Chucky is, you know – continues to be day-to-day as we see how he continues to progress,” said Kelsey. “We’re hopeful about Wednesday but, you know, nothings, nothings for sure yet or set in stone.”

Hepburn is averaging 15.2 points, 6.2 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.3 steals this season for Louisville. That has him as the team’s leader in scoring, assists, and steals as well as minutes, which will have him in consideration for a selection as All-ACC.

Then, as for the other, Kelsey already expects Scott back considering he was trying to return in their last game after exiting with him knocking out multiple teeth with a fall on the court.

“In terms of James? You know, we’re very, very confident that he’s going to play because he was extremely frustrated that he couldn’t go right back in the game the other day. But it was much more than just, you know, just a tooth popping out,” Kelsey explained. “He had both front teeth knocked out and then he had – it got pushed so far up into his gum that they had to go in and, like, extract pieces. It was, it was a lot more extensive than just, you know, getting your tooth knocked out, which is pretty extensive anyway. So he spent quite a bit of time on Saturday in a dentist chair in his basketball uniform, which is, which is unique.”

Kelsey said it says a lot about Scott (7.2 points (75.8% FG), 6.5 rebounds), though, with how hard he has tried to be back over the last few days.

“I made the point a couple weeks ago when you guys asked me about James and his personality and he’s such a wonderful kid. But I said, man, he’d rather have six root canals than come into a press conference and talk to you guys and I think he took that literally,” said Kelsey. “He’s such a tough kid. Like, he’s walking off the floor. You know, blood is coming out of his mouth and, you know, he looks at me and goes, ‘I’m good, I’m good, I’m good. I’m ready’. I’m like, ‘James, just relax. Let’s get this taken care of’, you know.”

“And then he texts our strength coach while he’s in the dentist chair to see if he could lift the next morning. Then he texts me about 42 times to make sure I knew that he’d be ready to play,” Kelsey added. “James is kind of a example, a microcosm of just the toughness of our entire team and that’s why they’re so much fun to coach.”

With that, the Cardinals could now have each of Hepburn and Scott in the lineup this week when they play at NC State.