Gorgui Dieng will play Saturday against Kentucky, Rick Pitino told CBSSports.com Wednesday night.

Gorgui Dieng will practice "full contact" with UofL Wednesday afternoon

Louisville's 6-11 junior center practiced "full-contact" with the fourth-ranked Cardinals Wednesday for the first time since breaking his left wrist Nov. 23 against Missouri. Wednesday night, Pitino declared that Dieng will return to action for UofL's big game against Kentucky, which has won four straight in the series.

"He's in great shape," Pitino told Jeff Goodman of CBSSports. "His defensive timing is off, but he looks good offensively," Pitino said.

One of the nation's top shot blockers, Dieng's return provides Louisville's interior defense a boost against the Wildcats, which features Nerlens Noel and Willie Cauley-Stein, two of the top freshmen frontcourt players in the country.

Without Dieng in the lineup, Louisville is 6-1 -- the only loss to Duke 76-71 in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game. The Cardinals have won six straight games heading into Saturday's non-conference finale against Kentucky, including a 78-55 victory over Western Kentucky Saturday night in Nashville, TN.

Dieng had been participating in individual instruction drills and dressed and went through pre-game warmups last week. Pitino had hoped Dieng would make his return against the Hilltoppers, but an x-ray last week revealed his fractured wrist still hadn't completely healed. Dieng was re-examined Wednesday.

"We have thrown the ball hard to his left hand and he has no trouble catching it. He uses the left hand on jump hooks," Pitino said last Friday. "He's in better shape than the rest of the guys because we've been running him for one hour by himself every single day, basketball running.

"Gorgui has become a facilitator like David Padgett, except he shoots the ball better. We have been really missing his passing skills, the way he handles the ball…all the little things you may not notice in the stat sheet he does."

Stay tuned to InsideTheVille.com for more Louisville vs. Kentucky pre-game coverage.