Kentucky’s Jayden Quaintance will not play against Tennessee on Saturday
The Kentucky Wildcats will be without Jayden Quaintance for the third consecutive game.
UK is set to play at No. 24 Tennessee on Saturday afternoon, and Quaintance was listed as “out” on the preliminary availability report that the Wildcats sent to the SEC on Friday night. The 6-foot-10 sophomore also missed the team’s recent victories over Mississippi State and LSU due to swelling in his surgically repaired knee.
Quaintance was the only Wildcat on UK’s preliminary report to the league Friday night other than starting point guard Jaland Lowe, who was ruled out for the season earlier in the week with a right shoulder injury.
UK coach Mark Pope said after the team’s loss to Missouri last week that Quaintance had been experiencing swelling in his knee, which he originally injured as a freshman at Arizona State last February. He underwent surgery for a torn ACL in March and was still in the early stages of rehabbing that injury when he joined the Wildcats as a transfer during the offseason.
Quaintance made his Kentucky debut in a 78-66 victory over St. John’s on Dec. 20 — the game coming right around the nine-month anniversary of his ACL surgery — and he tallied 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots in the Wildcats’ victory over the Red Storm.
In three games since that debut, Quaintance has totaled 10 points, 12 rebounds, one blocked shot and six turnovers in 49 minutes on the court. He made his first start for Kentucky in the 73-68 loss to Missouri last week.
Quaintance is projected as a top-10 pick in this year’s NBA draft.
The UK-Tennessee game is set for noon ET on ESPN. The Wildcats’ next game will be a home matchup with Texas on Wednesday night.
Junior forward Cade Phillips was the only Tennessee player listed on Friday’s availability report. He started nine of 10 games for the Vols before being ruled out for the season with a shoulder injury last month.
