Kentucky men’s basketball head coach Mark Pope provided injury updates Monday afternoon during Media Day as the Wildcats prepare for the start of the 2026-27 season.

Most of what we heard from Pope was updates on injuries that we already knew about, but starting with the unexpected news, Pope revealed that guard Jerone Morton suffered a knee injury in practice and is set to be re-evaluated in a few weeks.

Morton, a Kentucky native, spent his first two seasons at Morehead State before transferring to Washington State before the start of last season. With the Cougars, Morton averaged 7.8 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists through 29 games started and 32 games played. He shot 43.8% from the field and 38.7% from downtown. Morton is projected to be one of UK’s first point guards off the bench, so Pope will need him back in action as soon as possible before the season tips off on Nov. 3.

Moving to Milan Momcilovic, the No. 1-ranked player in the portal making his way over from Iowa State, he suffered a finger injury in late August. Kentucky men’s basketball social media accounts posted a video of Momcilovic returning to practice and shooting on Sept. 22; however, the 6-foot-8 forward hasn’t been fully cleared to practice fully. Pope revealed that Momcilovic is expected to be cleared to fully practice next week.

Third-year Wildcat and Harlan County native Trent Noah has been dealing with a hamstring injury since the beginning of the summer, which at first wasn’t believed to be too serious. However, towards mid-September, it came out that Noah re-aggravated his hamstring and was expected to miss some time. Pope also gave an update on that situation, explaining that Noah is progressing well and that he hopes to have him return within a couple of weeks.

Finally, Kam Williams, who’s entering his second season in Lexington, broke his foot in Kentucky’s 85-80 win over Texas last January. Williams has gone through two surgeries and was seen walking around in a boot towards the beginning of the summer when the Wildcats pulled up to watch La Familia in the TBT Tournament. Pope relayed that the hope is Williams will return by the start of the regular season.

Four injuries prior to the start of the regular season are not ideal, but it seems as if three of the four players are near a return. Pope and the trainers need to be cautious with these injuries because, as we’ve seen in the past, rushing guys’ returns can be a dangerous move. However, the training staff needs to do their best to get these guys ready for tipoff.

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