Andrew Carr Due to back issues, it was a real game-time decision tonight against Mississippi State, to the point that Mark Pope seemed very unsure whether Kentucky’s starting forward would play during his pre-tip-off conversation with Tom Leach. Carr started and played 21 minutes, making several key plays along the way, to lead Kentucky to a 95-90 win over No. Helping 14 Bulldogs get their first real away win of the season.

As the game continued, we learned more about Carr’s injury from SEC Network’s Dave Neal. He said Carr had been suffering from back problems all week, preventing him from practicing. Afterward, Pope gave more details about Carr’s back and his decision to play, calling the forward a “warrior” for dealing with pain so bad he couldn’t sit down during timeouts.

“I mean, whoa, my goodness. Andrew Carr. We’ve talked a lot in the last few days. He didn’t practice, he didn’t do anything. Big thanks to Brandon Wells and Randy Towner, our performance team, for making it possible for him to play.

“We sat down yesterday and had a long conversation and he’s feeling so stressed because he’s like, ‘I don’t want to be out there if I’m not helping the team, but I want to help the team so bad.’ .’ And then when you look at him, it’s the second game in a row where he can’t sit during timeouts, but he felt like – he made it through the shootout today. So we kind of came to each other and said, “Let’s do some warm-ups before the game and just see.” And then he gets through the warm-ups and says, “I think I’m fine.” I think it It’s okay to try.’”

Carr played 10 minutes in the first half and 11 minutes in the second, finishing with 13 points and six rebounds. With 15:55 left, he intercepted his own miss and made a three-point play that gave Kentucky a 14-point lead. When that lead narrowed to just two points over the next three minutes, he checked in again and made another three-point play to push the lead back to five. A few minutes later, he caught his own miss again and got a putback before scoring the final check at 7:59. Ansley Almonor came in and filled the void, hitting three three-pointers in a two-minute span.

“It was like every time I made eye contact with Brandon Wells on a shoot, I was like, ‘What do you think? Can we do more?’” Do we have to turn it off? Where are we?’” Pope said. “And Andrew made big plays at the end, man, big plays, not just because he shot a couple and one, but because he put a couple guys in foul trouble that really helped us. He’s a tough, tough kid, man. He is a warrior. He’s a really tough kid. He loves our team.”

Amari Williams said the fact that Carr played through the pain shows the Cats are a lot tougher tonight than many thought.

“This shows once again that we are not a soft team. The fact that he has back problems, which is serious, and that he was still able to go out and compete, get on the boards, block shots, play defense, just shows what kind of character he is .”

Hopefully Carr gets enough treatment and the best seat on the plane, bus and wherever he is over the next three days before No. 10 Kentucky hosts Texas A&M.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features and exclusive content.