John Calipari says Jacob Toppin has an ankle sprain, no timeline for return

Jacob Toppin’s status for Kentucky’s upcoming matchup against the Florida Gators remains up in the air. An official diagnosis for his injury, though, has been confirmed.

During John Calipari’s weekly call-in radio show, the UK head coach announced Toppin had suffered an ankle sprain. Beyond that, though, a timeline for return remains up in the air.

“I have not seen him today, but it’s an ankle sprain,” Calipari said. “We were off today.”

Later in the show, Calipari joked that the last time Toppin went down with an ankle injury vs. Mississippi State, the junior forward was “carried off in a stretcher.” Shortly after, Toppin returned to the floor and played in overtime.

“The last time this happened, they carried him off in a stretcher and he was back in the second half, so who knows,” Calipari joked. “… I’m not sure how bad he’s hurt or not.”

Toppin suffered the ankle injury after playing just six minutes in the first half of Kentucky’s win at South Carolina on Tuesday. After a strong stretch of play — he scored eight straight points for the Wildcats in just 94 seconds — he rolled his left ankle while battling for a defensive rebound with roughly 1:45 to go in the first half and had to be helped off the floor. UK quickly ruled him out the remainder of the game.

While Calipari was unable to provide an official update on Toppin after the game, Keion Brooks Jr. said his teammate appears to be “fine.”

“I got back to the locker room after the game, it seems like he’s good, he’s in good spirits,” Brooks said. “He’s gonna be fine. Just need him to take some time to get well because we really need him.”

Toppin finished with 10 points (4-5 FG) and three rebounds in six first-half minutes for the Wildcats. He’s now averaging 5.9 points on 57 percent shooting to go with 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 15.4 minutes per contest.

Kentucky will take on Florida on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET at Rupp Arena.