CJ Fredrick won’t play in Kentucky-Louisville game after suffering finger injury
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Game day: No. 19 Kentucky 86, Louisville 63
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Kentucky senior CJ Fredrick will miss the Wildcats’ rivalry basketball game against Louisville on Saturday afternoon after suffering a dislocated finger earlier in the week.
UK Coach John Calipari confirmed that Fredrick would be out for the U of L game in his pregame radio interview, though he did not speculate on how long he’d be sidelined.
Fredrick was injured during the first half of UK’s 89-75 loss at Missouri on Wednesday night. He played just three minutes in that game — and missed his only shot attempt, a three-pointer — before being sidelined with the finger injury.
The 6-foot-3 guard from Cincinnati had been in a shooting slump before breaking out for 12 points in an 88-68 victory over Florida A&M on Dec. 21. He was 4-for-6 from three-point range and played 25 minutes in that victory. In the previous three games, Fredrick scored three total points in 30 minutes of playing time. He’s also struggled against Kentucky’s big-name opponents, averaging just 2.8 points per game — shooting 3-for-15 from three-point range — in the Wildcats’ matchups with Michigan State, Gonzaga, Michigan and UCLA.
Fredrick was one of the country’s best three-point shooters in two seasons at Iowa, going 46.6 percent from deep with the Hawkeyes — before transferring to Kentucky before the 2021-22 season. He battled injuries at Iowa and missed all of last season with a hamstring injury, but Fredrick said he was 100 percent healthy coming into this campaign with the Cats.
He’s averaging 7.3 points in 19.8 minutes and shooting 38.8 percent from three-point range through Kentucky’s first 12 games. Fredrick was Kentucky’s Sweet Sixteen MVP for Covington Catholic in 2018.
This story was originally published December 31, 2022 at 11:33 AM.
