Kaspar undergoes MRI after spraining knee in Saturday’s game

Kaspar undergoes MRI after spraining knee in Saturdays game

Cole Claybourn

Freshman guard Kevin Kaspar had an MRI right after WKU’s 65-53 win over Arkansas-Little Rock Saturday to determine the severity of a knee sprain that he suffered at the end of the first half.

Kaspar sat out the second half and had ice wrapped around his knee as he sat at the end of the WKU bench.

The timetable on his recovery and when he’ll be available is still uncertain, but WKU media relations said they would “probably” have the MRI results by Sunday.

“Really haven’t had a chance to talk our trainers and doctors, but we’ll hope for the best,” interim head coach Ray Harper said after the game. “Obviously we were told at halftime that he was done for the evening, which is unfortunate. He was playing very well and he’s one of the toughest kids we got. We just pray that he’s OK. We just really don’t know much.”

Kaspar pulled up to shoot a three-pointer as time expired in the first half, but immediately favored his left knee and fell to the ground. He had to be helped off the floor by trainers.

Junior guard Jamal Crook played 18 minutes in the second half in Kaspar’s absence. 

He scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists in the second half. 

Crook finished with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists. He said he had to step up and be a leader once Kaspar went down.

“It’s tough. There were times where I wanted to give in and I was hoping coach would call a timeout, but you can’t always depend on that,” Crook said. “George (Fant) mentioned toughness and that’s just got to be our thing.”

Kaspar, a native of Turkey, finished with three points, two rebounds, two assists and no turnovers in eight minutes.