MRI confirms knee sprain, no further damage for UK's Travis
Wildcats' grad transfer forward expected to miss at least two weeks, giving Nick Richards and EJ Montgomery a chance to step up and earn more playing time.
The Kentucky Wildcats can exhale.
An MRI conducted on Reid Travis' right knee confirmed that the grad transfer forward has only a sprain and no further damage. He is expected to miss "at least two weeks," according to a press release issued by UK.
“I just feel so good that it was more of a sprain than anything else because you just get worried about that stuff when you see someone go down,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “We are going to be very conservative with this so he may be out a couple weeks. We hope he will be ready for around the conference tournament or maybe even a little bit before, but I’m happy for Reid that we’re going to get him back.”
Travis, who injured the knee on Tuesday night in the second half of UK's 66-58 win at Missouri after getting tangled up with teammate Keldon Johnson, is averaging 11.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game for the No. 4 Wildcats.
If Travis misses two weeks, he would not play in home games against Auburn (Saturday) and Arkansas (next Tuesday) as well as possibly the rematch with Tennessee on March 2 in Knoxville.
While Travis rests his sprained knee, sophomore center Nick Richards (4.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, team-high 67 blocked shots) and freshman forward EJ Montgomery (4.1 points, 3.8 rebounds) will have an opportunity to earn more playing time.
“Because we coach every player like they’re starters, I think EJ and Nick are going to be fine,” Calipari said on his weekly radio show Wednesday night. “This is their opportunity. I have great confidence in those two.”
Calipari also noted that sophomore forward PJ Washington could see his role change in the meantime, citing a need for someone else to carry the "rough-house" load in Travis' absence.