The Kentucky Wildcats had to deal with an injury to talented freshman F Jarred Vanderbilt during the SEC Tournament, but still cruised to their fourth-straight tourney title.

Vanderbilt missed the first two games of the NCAA Tournament, too, but he’s hopeful that he can return to the court this weekend.

On Monday, coach John Calipari wouldn’t say one way or the other if Vanderbilt would play, but did say that he is going to start doing some work in practice:

Vanderbilt appeared in 14 games this year, averaging 5.9 points and 7.9 boards per contest. Getting him back against Kansas State would be a big boost for Kentucky.

Thursday night’s game tips off at 9:37 p.m. Eastern time and can be seen on CBS.