With the NHL starting Tuesday night, what happened at Kentucky Wildcats practice recently seems fitting.
Let’s just say freshman Brandon Hawthorne got a rude awakening when transfer Mohamed Dioubate knocked
one of his teeth out at practice, sending Hawthorne to the emergency room.
Yes, that happened.
Hawthorne told reporters all about the incident at Kentucky basketball media day. It happened when the 6-8, 190-pound forward switched over to defend the 6-7, 220-pound Dioubate, who was coming off a screen.
Hawthorne knocked the ball loose, and both players dove for it. That’s when Dioubate’s arm collided with Hawthorne’s mouth, sending him to the floor and a tooth out of place.
“I hit the ball when he went up, and he lost it, and he went after the ball, and his forearm just popped me in my mouth, and I just went down,” Hawthorne said. “I couldn’t see for a second. I was kind of dizzy, and then I was holding my mouth, and I tried to close my mouth, and my tooth was out of place. My lip was bleeding.”
“So, right after that happened, they took me to the emergency room or whatever, and I had to get seven…eight stitches in my mouth, and they gave me three shots in my gums, and they moved my tooth back into place.”
Last season at Alabama, Dioubate averaged 7.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Kentucky should be a more athletic team this season, and Dioubate will be a big part of that.
With the Wildcats looking for improvement defensively this season, Dioubate is ready to embrace that challenge.
“I try to get the guys going every practice to try to play as hard as I do, or at least match the intensity. I feel like that’s something that we could be really good at this year, defense. I feel like the defensive energy. It could be contagious. Really contagious.”
UK fans have to love hearing that.
