Mo Dioubate was back on the court this week, but status vs. Indiana is up in the air: 'He's crazy rusty'

by: Zack Geoghegan4 hours agoZGeogheganKSR

Will Kentucky have Mo Dioubate back in the lineup on Saturday against Indiana? Head coach Mark Pope still isn’t sure yet, but significant progress is being made with the Alabama transfer.

It’s been nearly a month now since Dioubate was on the floor for the Wildcats. During Kentucky’s loss to Michigan State on Nov. 18, the 6-foot-7 forward went down with what Pope has since labeled as a “high ankle sprain” that includes a “torn ligament between his tibia and fibia.” Obviously, that’s not an easy injury to bounce back from.

Dioubate is trending in the right direction, though. In fact, he returned to the hardwood in practice this week for the first time since going down with the injury.

“Mo was on the court for a minute yesterday,” Pope said during his Friday press conference. “It was a miracle! It was like a Christmas miracle…

“I think he responded pretty well yesterday. We’ll see how it goes today. He’s crazy rusty, as you could imagine, but he’s on the road to recovery.”

Get the Daily On3 Newsletter in your inbox every morning

By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.

A short return to practice doesn’t mean Dioubate is ready to return to live action in real games. When asked if fans should expect to see Dioubate take the floor on Saturday against Indiana, Pope was noncommittal to the idea.

“Maybe. We’ll see. I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll see, maybe. I mean, he certainly could help us.”

While Dioubate won’t fix all of the issues Kentucky has, especially on offense, he can’t make them any worse. Through his five games played, the New York native averaged 11.6 points and 5.8 rebounds in 20.4 minutes per outing on 62.2 percent overall shooting. His intensity and defensive impact have been missed with this squad since an injury took him out of the lineup, even if he’s not spreading the floor much on the other end. After all, it’s not like Kentucky’s spacing has been stellar in his absence anyway.

Dioubate might not be ready to go against the Hoosiers, but his step in the right direction helped set a new milestone for Pope’s squad. This is a team that has been together since arriving on campus in June. Thursday was the first time they were all healthy enough to practice as a group.

“For the first time ever, including the summer, we had all of our guys on the practice floor,” Pope said. “It was the first time ever. So that’s pretty exciting for us.”