Kentucky dealt with its first two opponents in the NCAA Tournament without their leading scorer PJ Washington, who was forced to wear a boot to protect his sprained left foot.
However, the forward refused to let that be the end of his college career as he fought the pain to rejoin the Wildcats in their 62-58 win over Houston on Friday to advance to the Elite Eight.
"It kind of started hurting in the second half, but I just suffered through it,'' said Washington, according to ESPN's Adam Teicher. "I'm definitely going back to get some treatment after this and get a good night's sleep."
Washington suffered the injury in Kentucky's SEC Tournament loss to Tennessee before sitting out the Wildcats' blowout win over Abilene Christian and narrow victory against Wofford.
The 6-foot-8 sophomore chose to return to Lexington last summer despite a strong finish to his freshman season to become arguably head coach John Calipari's most valuable player.
"It's good to have PJ back,'' Calipari said. "We don't win the game today without him. What he did and the presence he adds to the game and his ability to pass and do different things and you're not going to (overpower) him. You're not going to muscle him. You're not going to push him around. It's not going to happen.''
Washington started the year slow, averaging 11.8 points on 8.1 shots per game through his first 17 appearances before being handed the keys to the offense. He then put up 17.8 points on 12.3 field goal attempts in his last 17 contests.
Kentucky will face a hot Auburn squad on Sunday for an opportunity to move on to its first Final Four since 2015.
