Aaron Harrison's finger dislocation won't keep him out of Saturday's game

By: LARRY VAUGHT



CLEVELAND — Kentucky was cruising to a spot in the Elite Eight when it seemed like UK’s season might suddenly be in jeopardy.

The Wildcats had a 48-19 lead on West Virgina here Thursday night when Aaron Harrison suddenly headed off the court clutching his left hand — and his ring finger dangling at an angle it should not have been.

Harrison was the late-game star of UK’s dramatic run to the NCAA Tournament title game last year and was brilliant in the first half against West Virginia when he scored 12 points and set the stage for UK’s win.

Trainer Chris Simmons went off the court with Harrison and immediately waved to the team doctor to accompany them. However, a few minutes later Harrison was not only back on the bench, but he even went briefly back in the game during UK’s 78-39 win that sets up an 8:49 p.m. game Saturday in the Elite Eight against Notre Dame on WTBS.

“I think I just came up and one of the guys on their team had the ball and I tried to put my hand on them I guess and just hit it,” said Harrison with tape and ice on his left hand. “It was more scary than painful. It didn’t really hurt until I got back to the tunnel.”

He said he actually popped his own finger back into place.

“Chris put a towel over it and I just pulled it out,” Harrison said. ““I had no choice. I just felt like I needed to get it back, so I just pulled it.”

He admitted it was “more like shocking than anything” when he looked at his finger.

Willie Cauley-Stein said he didn’t see his teammate’s finger.

“I heard it was nasty though,” Cauley-Stein said. “We were trying to make sure it wasn’t his right (shooting) hand. If it was his right hand it’d be a little different. Left hand, we’re good with his left hand.”

Coach John Calipari gave Harrison a high five — on his right hand — when he got back to the court.

“It was awful, and then I kept looking like, is that his right hand or is that his left hand, I couldn’t figure it out, and he said left, I said, ‘You’re good, tape that thing up,’” Calipari said. “And I put him back in, I just wanted him to take a shot or two like to make sure he would feel okay, but then I told him don’t you drive the ball, don’t go near the basket and then I just took him out because we have a day and a half to get ready. But he’s fine. He seems to be fine. It will be hurting tomorrow, I imagine.”

But not hurting enough that Harrison has any doubts about whether he will play Saturday night.

“No doubt. I’m playing Saturday,” he said. “I mean it was different to have something on my left hand when I tried to shoot it, but I’ll figure a way out. I’m definitely playing Saturday.”

He said it was different, but not painful, to have his left hand taped.

“I’ll practice with it tomorrow to get used to it,” Harrison, who joked he told Calipari “he could still shoot,” said. “I went back out there so I could get back into the game. We beat them pretty handily.”

He noted that West Virgina “caught us on a bad day” after talking Wednesday about how it would beat UK and saying UK did not play hard.

“I don’t know why they would do that at all. I guess they woke us up,” Harrison, who had 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting along with two assists and two rebounds in 22 minutes, said. “We were super motivated. We’re just so happy to play and so excited — and plus the added trash talk or whatever, they wanted to say that we were gonna be 36-1 and all that. That was fuel to the fire. And we just wanted to go out there and make a statement to them and the rest of the country.”

He admitted the guards took it personally when West Virgina players talked about how their press would take a toll on UK physically and mentally.

“We consider ourselves the best guards in the country and for a team to say they can press us and we won’t be able to pass the ball and things like that, we thought that was really dumb and ridiculous,” Harrison said. “I know how we respond to trash talk and I just had a good feeling about the game.

“It’s competitiveness. Just for a team to challenge us as guards to say that they would press us and do things like that where we couldn’t pass the ball and things like that, we took that as disrespect and we went to go make a statement.”