CJ Fredrick suffers cracked rib, out vs. Georgia

Kentucky guard CJ Fredrick has been diagnosed with a cracked rib and will miss the team’s matchup at Georgia, sources tell KSR.

The senior sharpshooter suffered the injury on an and-one finish vs. Florida last Saturday, hitting a cameraman on his way down to the floor. Fredrick stayed in the game and then played through the injury in Kentucky’s home loss vs. Arkansas on Tuesday.

John Calipari touched on the veteran’s rib issue during his postgame press conference on Tuesday, making it clear he was playing at less than 100 percent.

“He had rib problems today. His ribs were bothering him,” Calipari said. “His ribs were — he’s another one that probably should not have played, and you could see that he was hurting the whole time. But he was giving everything he had.”

Fredrick finished with zero points on 0-4 shooting to go with one rebound and one assist in the loss to Arkansas.

The senior guard is officially listed as day-to-day and will be reevaluated moving forward based on pain tolerance. Even if not fully healed, the plan is for Fredrick to play through the injury at some point before the season’s end, sources tell KSR.

This is not the first time Fredrick has been sidelined with an injury during his college career. He missed all of last season with a torn hamstring and dislocated the middle finger on his shooting hand earlier this year, which forced him to miss a few games and eventually wear a splint once he returned. Fredrick was finally able to remove the splint in last weekend’s win over Florida, but a new injury will force him back to the bench once again.