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Willie Cauley-Stein says he’ll be ‘ready to play again’ once Kentucky returns from Bahamas

NCAA Kentucky Michigan Basketball

Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein is seen on the bench with crutches before an NCAA Midwest Regional final college basketball tournament game against Michigan Sunday, March 30, 2014, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Michael Conroy

Kentucky wraps up the Big Blue Bahamas Tour this weekend. The Wildcats could quite possibly return to Lexington with a perfect 6-0 record from the eight-day trip. When the team gets back home, John Calipari will also be adding another big man to his loaded frontline in the next week or so.

Willie Cauley-Stein, the 7-foot junior, was ruled out for the Bahamas tour, as he is still recovering from an ankle injury he suffered during the Sweet 16 game against Louisville back in March. Cauley-Stein told Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio before Saturday afternoon’s game that he expects to be back on the floor shortly after the team arrives back on campus.

“They tell me when we get back from Bahamas, I will be good to go and ready to play again,” Cauley-Stein told KSR.

Following Saturday’s game, Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal reported that Cauley-Stein is “basically cleared.” He needs one more CT scan, and is likely a week away from returning.

This is clearly a case of the rich getting richer, as Kentucky has showcased a frontline of Dakari Johnson, Alex Poythress, Karl Towns, Marcus Lee and Derek Willis this week in the Bahamas with Poythress, the junior forward, leading the team in scoring at 15.3 points per game after four contests. Trey Lyles, the five-star freshman power forward, was also sidelined during for the trip.

Cauley-Stein returned for the another season at Kentucky, despite being a projected first round pick. He averaged 6.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game as a sophomore.

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