Aaron Harrison's finger 'fine'

CLEVELAND --Kentucky Wildcats guard Aaron Harrison, who dislocated a finger in the second half of Thursday's 78-39 Sweet 16 win over West Virginia on Thursday night, said there was "no doubt" he would be playing in Saturday's Midwest Regional final against No. 3 seed Notre Dame.

The Wildcats guard left the game early in the second half with his left ring finger bent sideways at the knuckle. A UK trainer tossed a towel over the hand and led Harrison into the tunnel.

Harrison popped the finger back into place and returned to Kentucky's bench soon thereafter.

"It was more scary than painful," Harrison said. "It didn't really hurt until I got back into the tunnel."

With a bandage on the finger, Harrison returned to the game with just more than 10 minutes to play.

"It was awful," Kentucky coach John Calipari said of his initial reaction to the injury. "I kept looking like, is that his right hand or is that his left hand? I couldn't figure it out, and he said 'left,' and I said, 'You're good, tape that thing up.' And I put him back in. I just wanted him to take a shot or two like to make sure he would feel OK, but then I told him, 'Don't you drive the ball, don't go near the basket,' and then I just took him out because we have a day and a half to get ready.

"But he's fine," Calipari said. "He seems to be fine. It will be hurting tomorrow, I imagine."

Harrison had an ice pack attached to the finger as he walked into Kentucky's locker room for postgame interviews.

"It was just different, having something on my left hand," Harrison said. "I'll practice with it tomorrow, just get used to it, it'll be just fine.

"I'll figure a way out," he said. "I'm definitely playing on Saturday."