Kerry Blackshear’s senior night spoiled by wrist injury

The Florida Gators blew an 18-point second-half lead, losing to Kentucky 71-70 on Kerry Blackshear’s senior night, but Blackshear was limited to just 12 minutes before leaving the game with a left wrist injury.

Blackshear fell awkwardly on his left wrist while battling on the offensive end. He got up slowly and was clearly in pain, holding his wrist as he tried to get back to the other end of the floor to play defense. The graduate senior was subbed out and team doctor Duke Werner looked at the wrist on the bench before taking Blackshear to the locker room before halftime.

Blackshear came out in the second half with his left wrist and hand tapped and he tried to play. He started the half but only lasted a few minutes before being subbed out and wrapped in ice.

“KJ is one of the tougher guys on the team, one of the toughest guys I’ve coached,” Mike White said. “When he walked over a couple of minutes into the second half and said he couldn’t go, I knew.”

While he was in, Blackshear did a good job of defending junior forward Nick Richards.

“He was 1 for 7 at half time from one foot,” John Calipari said of Richards.

Without Blackshear down low Richards was 7-11 and scored 17 points.

It’s unclear immediately after the game how long the injury would keep Blackshear off the court. White was told by Werner that he “believed” it was a sprained wrist, but nothing had been officially diagnosed.

Blackshear came into the game averaging 27.7 minutes, 13.2 points and 7.5 rebounds a game.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC