PJ Washington is having his cake. And doting dad will make sure he eats it, too.

In the wee hours of the morning, after an NCAA Tournament game had been won, a victory had been celebrated, and the adrenaline had worn off, a father and a son went for a walk.

Paul Washington had just watched his boy, PJ, make an improbable return from injury and lead the Kentucky Wildcats past Houston and into the Elite Eight. The game had started Friday night — after a week of speculation over whether PJ would even be able to play — and midnight had come and gone by the time Washington blocked the shot that led to the three that won it for the Cats. It was after 1 a.m. by the time UK’s players left the arena. It was later than that when father and son stood at the bank of hotel elevators and said goodbye for the night.

“I walked him back to the elevators and we just talked,” Paul Washington said Saturday afternoon. “We talked about how he was feeling. He was limping a little bit, and I told him to wear his boot all day today. And stay off of it and get some sleep.”

About 12 hours later, PJ Washington emerged from the UK locker room with his teammates and walked down the Sprint Center hallway to answer more questions about his injury. There was a smile on his face. There was no boot on his foot.

“See, that tells you — kids don’t listen,” Paul said. “I told him to make sure he had that damn boot on today!”

And then he laughed — long and loud.

Paul Washington had spent the better part of the past week hearing his son’s toughness debated, listening to his boy’s drive to win — for himself, his teammates and his school — called into question. He had told Kentucky fans to “relax” earlier in the week, that PJ would play if he could play. Going into Friday night’s game, no one knew whether that would happen. Not even Dad.

“I didn’t know. It was a game-time decision,” Paul said. “I talked to him that morning and he said, ‘Dad, it’s sore.’ So I wasn’t sure. The ball player in him, that team player that wants to win — I figured that would come out. The adrenaline would kick in if he warmed up pretty good. Then I saw him running and jumping and dunking. So I felt like he would get 10 to 15 minutes. Lord knows I didn’t know he would get 26 — and the last 12. I knew if it was a close game you couldn’t get him off the court. I think he would have talked his way back in.”

PJ left no question Saturday afternoon about his status for Sunday’s game against Auburn, one with a trip to the Final Four on the line. “Yeah,” was his answer to the question of whether he’d be able to suit up again and play through the pain. Simple as that.

“I’m definitely feeling good,” he said. “Got some treatment going and a good night’s rest. I’m feeling a lot better.”

UK’s leading scorer said the pain was a “5” on a 1-10 scale. He said it felt about the same when he woke Saturday morning — the day after he had played 26 minutes and scored 16 points — as it had on Friday morning, the day after he watched most of UK’s practice from the sidelines.

“I knew there was going to be some pain, but that just comes with it,” he said. “I wanted to win. I didn’t want to go home. And I felt like if we went home, it would be a lot more pain than winning. I definitely felt like if I was out there I could change the game, so I just tried to do that in the best way I could.”

While Kentucky’s players were wrapping up their Saturday practice session at the Sprint Center, a proud papa was roaming Kansas City, looking for a piece of chocolate cake for his son. “Can you believe how hard it’s been to get some chocolate cake?” Paul Washington tweeted. “I’m in the lobby pulling my hair out trying to get my son some cake!!”

A few minutes later, Paul said he had received a tip on where to find the cake. He wanted it to be waiting for PJ when he got back to the hotel from practice. The stress of the injury watch was behind them, the biggest game in PJ’s basketball career was just 24 hours away, and the Washingtons had big plans for the rest of their day.

“We’re going to eat some chocolate cake, man,” Paul said. “Then we’re going to go in the room, play video games, do whatever he wants to do. We want to make sure he feels good today.”

This story was originally published March 30, 2019 at 7:22 PM.