Kentucky star PJ Washington returns from injury in Sweet 16 matchup with Houston

About 45 minutes before UK was scheduled to tip off its NCAA Tournament matchup with Houston on Friday night, “PJ Watch” hit the hallways of the Sprint Center.

After speculation all week over whether injured Kentucky star PJ Washington would be able to play for the Wildcats, the sophomore forward was right there with the rest of the Cats going through pre-game stretches outside the UK locker room.

Washington, who missed the team’s first two tournament games with the mysterious foot injury, looked fully healthy and showed no limp during the stretching and light running.

About 20 minutes later, he walked out of the locker room in full uniform.

Surrounded by his teammates — as they waited for Auburn to put the finishing touches on its victory over North Carolina in the Midwest Region opener — Washington smiled and bounced up and down on the injured foot.

A few minutes after that, someone in the scrum said, “Let’s head that way,” and Washington led the Cats into the tunnel and onto the Sprint Center court.

There, he dunked with ease, jogged around on the court, and showed no signs of slowdown in the minutes approaching tip-off. He told CBS Sports before the game that he did not attempt to run until Friday, and he was still at about a “5 or 6” out of 10 on the pain scale. Last week, he told CBS Sports that the pain was a “10 out of 10.”

Washington was not in UK’s starting lineup Friday night, but he checked into the game at the 15:41 mark of the first half — his first action of this NCAA Tournament.

This story was originally published March 29, 2019 at 10:00 PM.