John Calipari uncertain Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware will play vs. Ohio

John Calipari is uncertain whether Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware will be available for Kentucky’s game against Ohio on Friday. Their statuses will be determined later today when the team takes the floor for practice.

Big day of practice

During a pregame media session Thursday morning, Calipari said the players’ availability will come down to their participation in practice later today. If they practice, they may play. If not, they will both be out against Ohio.

“I don’t know, I’m not going to say,” Calipari told the media. “Hopefully they’re getting closer. Will they play tomorrow? I don’t know. They won’t play if they don’t practice. They have to practice today to be able to play that game tomorrow.”

Both players took the floor in Kentucky’s season-opener against Duke, with Toppin playing 23 minutes and Ware playing nine minutes. In the team’s home-opener against Robert Morris, Ware was limited to just one minute, while Toppin was declared out before tip-off.

Shoulder for Toppin, ankle for Ware

After the game, Calipari confirmed Toppin had injured a “different part of his shoulder” and was getting an MRI to determine the severity. He added that Ware “tried to go,” but couldn’t fight through the pain.

Leading up to Kentucky’s game against Mount St. Mary’s, the school announced Ware and Toppin were both out, with the former dealing with an ankle injury and the latter dealing with a shoulder issue.

“There was no damage-damage,” Calipari said of Toppin’s MRI following Kentucky’s win over Mount St. Mary’s. “He has a bruised shoulder, and we’ll see. Lance [Ware] has the ankle, so whether he will play in two days, I don’t know.”

CJ Fredrick also underwent surgery this week on a hamstring injury, one he suffered during pregame warmups leading up to Kentucky’s season-opener vs. Duke. Kentucky announced he was expected to miss the entire season.

Kentucky will take on Ohio at 7 p.m. ET on Friday at Rupp Arena.