CJ Fredrick returns to practice, Jacob Toppin "day-to-day"

Kentucky senior guard CJ Fredrick is inching closer to a return to game action after dislocating his finger in the team’s SEC opener at Missouri.

12 days after suffering the finger injury on his right shooting hand, Fredrick returned to practice on Monday, John Calipari said during his call-in radio show. And according to the Kentucky head coach, his veteran shooting specialist looked the part going live with his teammates.

“Practiced today,” Calipari said. “He wasn’t going to go live, but he did, and he looked really good. We’ll see now that he practiced, I’ll probably call tonight and ask how he feels.”

Fredrick’s injury occurred while catching a pass from Sahvir Wheeler in the first half against Missouri, one that kept him out the remainder of the game. He finished the day with zero points in four minutes, missing his lone shot attempt.

Going into the matchup, the 6-foot-3 guard was averaging 7.9 points in 21.4 minutes per outing while shooting 39.6 percent from beyond the arc. Sources told KSR in the days following the injury that initial tests revealed no ligament damage, which would have kept him out as long as two months. Instead, the dislocated finger resulted in a week-to-week diagnosis. Just short of two weeks later, he’s back to live action in practice.

As for Kentucky’s other injured Wildcat, senior forward Jacob Toppin, Calipari provided an additional update on his shoulder and what it means for his status vs. South Carolina on Tuesday. Missing the tail end of the team’s blowout loss at Alabama on Saturday, Toppin is officially listed as “day-to-day” with the right shoulder ailment. He’ll go through pregame shootaround before deciding whether to play or not.

“It’s probably day-to-day, I would say,” Calipari said. “I don’t know, we’ll know tomorrow at the shootaround where he is and then we’ll figure out prior to the game if he’s going to be able to go or not. The shootaround will probably be an indicator.”

Toppin is currently averaging 10.9 points on 42.8% shooting and 20.8% from three to go with 6.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 26.9 minutes per contest.

Kentucky is set to take on South Carolina at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, with the game broadcast live on ESPN2. Will the Wildcats have Fredrick and Toppin available? That remains to be seen — but they’re close.