CJ Fredrick injures finger in loss to Missouri

Kentucky men’s basketball was down one of its top outside shooters not long into Wednesday night’s game.

During the first half of the Wildcats’ 89-75 loss on the road to the Missouri Tigers, Kentucky redshirt senior CJ Fredrick appeared to jam one of the fingers on his right hand and immediately went to the locker room in clear pain. Fredrick first checked in at the 11:17 mark of the opening half, but he only played 3:57 of action before suffering the injury.

Fredrick did return to the bench during the first half and was spotted with tape around his right pinky and ring finger. While he was initially cleared to return, UK would eventually rule him out for the remainder of the game at halftime. Fredrick finished with zero points in those four first-half minutes, missing his only shot attempt.

While we don’t have a confirmed update, head coach John Calipari did indicate in the postgame press conference that it was likely a dislocation for Fredrick.

“I did not see him but the trainer told me at halftime he’s out for the game. I think the kid told me he did something to it,” Calipari said postgame. He was then informed by Kentucky men’s basketball SID Deb Moore that it appeared Fredrick had dislocated his finger.

John Calipari says he didn't see CJ Fredrick since the game ended, but the belief is he has a dislocated finger

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) December 29, 2022

Coming into Wednesday night, Fredrick was averaging 7.9 points in 21.4 minutes per outing this season while shooting 39.6 percent from beyond the arc. He was coming off a 4-6 mark from 3-point range in Kentucky’s most recent win, which came one week ago in a 20-point victory over Florida A&M.

However, Fredrick has seen his minutes trending downward since mid-November. He averaged just 14.2 minutes over the last six games (not counting the loss to Missouri) compared to 30.0 in his first five outings.

The former Iowa transfer sat out all of last season for Kentucky with a hamstring injury.