Andrew Carr explains his back injury, current status ahead of Ole Miss: 'We're in a good spot.'

When Andrew Carr was ruled out for Kentucky’s road loss to Vanderbilt on Jan. 25, it marked just the second time in his five-year college career (and the first since his freshman debut at Delaware) that he didn’t play a single second. That’s only two games missed out of a possible 139 — a pretty remarkable feat for someone who has averaged nearly 30 minutes per contest across his time in college.

It could be a lot more than just two games, as well. Carr has been dealing with a nagging back issue he says goes back to late December in a win against Brown. It was around the time of that game (Dec. 31) and when the calendar flipped to 2025 he began to experience spasms in his back. It just continued to worsen from there up until late and the staff has been managing it ever since.

“Out of nowhere, I ended up just getting a lot of spasms and was dealing with a cycle of pretty bad spasms,” Carr told reporters on Monday. “I had a good week leading up to Vanderbilt and ended up not playing in that game. Felt like that gave me enough time to really calm those down and allow my back to settle in a little bit to where it has been and we’re in a good spot.”

This is the first time in Carr’s basketball career he’s dealt with an injury of this caliber. He’s been spotted wearing a back brace during games whenever he’s off the court and on the bench. “It’s just a little bit of extra stability,” he says of the Hyperice Venom massaging heat belt he wraps around his lower back. Head coach Mark Pope has said multiple times in recent weeks how he’s being as cautious as possible with his starting power forward.

Carr has played through the pain for the most part. In Kentucky’s first five SEC games to start the new year, he still averaged 10 points and four rebounds in 24 minutes per contest, all while dealing with his back spasms. But the discomfort eventually became too much (first noticed during the home loss to Alabama on Jan. 18), causing him to miss the Vanderbilt game. Carr was ruled available for the following matchup — a road win against Tennessee on Jan. 28 — but saw just 89 seconds of action early on before sitting the rest of the way.

The situation does appear to be hitting a turning point, though. Carr was listed as probable ahead of last Saturday’s loss to Arkansas and was ultimately removed from the SEC’s Availability Report prior to tipoff. His 15 minutes played against the Razorbacks were the most in over two weeks, even if he finished with just three points and four rebounds.

Slowly but surely, Carr believes his back injury is truly beginning to heal. It couldn’t come at a better time either, even with Ansley Almonor filling Carr’s role quite nicely the last few games. Kentucky has still dropped three of its last four contests.

“Feeling good, feeling good. It was certainly a tough stretch for me for a little bit,” Carr said of his back. “I’ve spent a lot of time with our trainers and been able to recover a little bit here and starting to stabilize a little bit and feel a whole lot better. I’m in a good spot.”

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