Andrew Carr is 'gutting it out' with back injury, but Mark Pope is 'hopeful' new treatment will get him back to 100%

Mark Pope said Kentucky was ‘scratching and clawing to stay alive’ until its bye week, hoping to use the time off to get the banged-up Wildcats back to 100 percent ahead of the team’s trip to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt. Andrew Carr is the main culprit, battling through a back injury the last couple of games — he popped up on the injury report at Mississippi State — clearly limited.

“We’ve got to take advantage of it,” Pope said of the break. “Everybody’s got one, and ours is probably coming at the best time for us in terms of trying to find a pathway to a little better health for our guys. I didn’t think that was the determining factor of the game tonight, but to be fresh and for our guys to get fresh and to get healthy is going to be probably key number one.”

Carr struggled, finishing with just four points on 1-4 shooting with one rebound, one assist, one steal and four fouls in 18 minutes. His limitations were most evident defensively as Alabama’s Grant Nelson went for a high-major career-high 25 points on 7-13 shooting with 11 rebounds in the head-to-head battle.

The Wake Forest transfer has been brilliant this season for the Wildcats, but for that production to continue, he has to get healthy. Pope says he’s well on his way, using a ‘new treatment’ that should get him back to 100 percent in a timely manner.

“(He’s) undergoing every treatment under the sun,” the UK head coach said Monday. “He was with a specialist today and got a new treatment that we’re hopeful about. He’s working hard, we have the best performance team there is.”

Backs are admittedly tricky for big men, Pope says from experience, but Carr is powering through and there is hope this time off will get him back on track to wrap up the season.

His coach believes he’s got a whole lot left in the tank before his final year of eligibility concludes.

“I know about these backs — it’s just hard, man. Backs and bigs are complicated things and Andrew is gutting it out,” Pope said. “When you go back and watch film of the game Saturday, there are times when you can see the pain just plastered all over his face as he’s trying to run back and transition defense. He’s still having a really positive impact on this and this team, he’s going to continue to get better.

“He’s going to continue to be a massive part of this team.”