Kentucky forward Alex Poythress tears ACL, out for season
Kentucky junior forward Alex Poythress will miss the remainder of the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during practice on Thursday, the school announced.
Poythress played 15 minutes in Kentucky's 56-46 win over Columbia on Wednesday, scoring four points and recording two rebounds. Poythress has started eight games this season and has averaged 20.3 minutes per game as part of Kentucky's platoon system, scoring 5.5 points per game and averaging 3.8 rebounds per game.
"When I saw Alex last night, I said to him exactly what I said to Nerlens: 'You’re fine.' Alex is going to be OK," Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. "Our team was devastated for Alex when I told them. There were tears throughout the room because this hurt them to the core. How they will respond I really don’t know, but I will do my best to be there for each of these kids."
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A native of Clarksville, Tenn., Poythress elected after each of the past two seasons to return to school instead of entering the NBA draft. He's averaged eight points per game total over his two-plus seasons with the Wildcats.
Kentucky is 10-0 this season and hosts North Carolina on Saturday.
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