What Penny Hardaway said about Kendric Davis' injury and whether he will play vs. Houston
Memphis basketball star Kendric Davis left Thursday's 64-63 win over UCF in the first half with a right ankle injury and did not return.
The Tigers' leading scorer rolled his right ankle on the same play teammate Elijah McCadden made a 3-pointer to put Memphis up 36-27 with 4:25 on the clock in the first half.
Davis, who battled nagging ankle problems early in the season, was up to 10 points before the injury. He scored the game's first points on a fall-away runner off the glass, breaking the American Athletic Conference's record for career points.
Davis entered the game needing one point to tie former Temple star Quinton Rose as the league's all-time scorer. Davis has scored 1,859 points in his AAC career. He spent three seasons at SMU before transferring to Memphis last offseason.
After the game, coach Penny Hardaway did not provide any update regarding how much time Davis might miss with the injury, if any at all. But Hardaway did not rule anything out as the Tigers prepare to face No. 2 Houston Sunday (2 p.m., ESPN).
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"He’s a tough kid," Hardaway said. "I don’t know how bad it really is. He put the boot on for precautionary reasons, because I’m sure he wants to play in Houston. He got off of it as fast as he could. But it’s a recurring injury. When you have those, because I’ve had plenty of those, when you turn it over like that, it hurts as if it was done the same way. But it’s like, the pain, you can’t take it that night – get a couple days and you recover from it. So, I’m hoping that’s what happens with him.
"I think he felt, knowing him, ‘We got this one, I’ll just get myself ready, get off my feet and be ready for Houston.’ Which he knows is gonna be a tough game. Tonight was a tough game. His teammates held him up. If he doesn’t play in Houston, then it’s next man up. But I haven’t talked to him to see where he actually is on percentage of where he thinks he’s gonna be by Sunday. Sunday’s an early game. You get tonight, get tomorrow, you get Saturday, then half of Sunday, then it’s the game."
The Tigers (20-6, 10-3 AAC) are now a half-game ahead of Tulane for second place in the conference standings. Houston is in first place.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Kendric Davis injury update: Will Memphis basketball star play at Houston?
