Michael Porter Jr. to play in SEC Tournament

The return of Michael Porter Jr. will come in the SEC Tournament.

On Wednesday, Missouri Tigers head coach Cuonzo Martin said Porter will play Thursday when the Tigers face the winner of No. 12 seed Georgia vs No. 13 Vanderbilt.

“Yes. He’s prepared to play,” Martin said, adding Porter will not start but will play. “We’ll play like he’s part of the team.”

While Porter hasn’t played a college game since November, he won’t be held back when he makes his return.

“There’s no minimums,” Martin said. “We’re playing him. We’re trying to win games.”

Porter played just two minutes in the season opener before going down with a back injury that led to a microdiscectomy surgery of his L3-L4 spinal discs.

Projected to be the star in all of college basketball, Missouri was expected to finish near the top of the SEC before Porter hobbled off of the court.

This is big news for the Kentucky Wildcats, as they’re set to face the winner of Thursday’s matchup of No. 5 seed Missouri vs the winner of Georgia vs Vanderbilt.

The Tigers defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 69-60 in their first matchup on Feb. 3rd, but UK got revenge with an 87-66 home win on Feb. 25th.

Now that the two schools could face on a neutral court with Porter playing and Jarred Vanderbilt possibly being out, this would be a much tighter contest than the one we saw in Rupp Arena. Vanderbilt is battling an ankle sprain that could have him sitting out for the conference tournament.