Tennessee’s Kevin Punter dealing with stress fracture in foot

Tennessee guard Kevin Punter (0), center, sits on the bench with a leg brace with teammates Ray Kasongo (2) and Detrick Mostella (15), from left, during an NCAA college basketball game against LSU in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016. Tennessee won 81-65. (Adam Lau/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Tennessee guard Kevin Punter (0), center, sits on the bench with a leg brace with teammates Ray Kasongo (2) and Detrick Mostella (15), from left, during an NCAA college basketball game against LSU in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016. Tennessee won 81-65. (Adam Lau/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

By Patrick Brown February 23, 2016 4 min read

KNOXVILLE – Saturday’s win against LSU may not be the last time Tennessee plays a basketball game without Kevin Punter Jr. this season.

The leading scorer for the Volunteers is dealing with a stress fracture in his right foot, leaving his status for the final four regular-season games and the Southeastern Conference tournament up in the air.

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Monday he doesn’t expect Punter to play in Wednesday’s game at South Carolina.

“It’s day to day. We have no idea other than that,” Barnes said at his weekly news conference.

“He’s working. I saw him a little bit this morning, and he’s doing his training and everything with (head trainer) Chad (Newman) and (strength coach) Garrett (Medenwald) – his rehabilitation and what he has to do with that. He was over in the gym this morning and had a boot on and said it was feeling a little bit better.