Kentucky was shortened to a 75-70 loss to No. 18 in Missouri.
The wildcats were without Terrence Clarke, Jacob Toppin and assistant coach Joel Justus in Columbia. Eventually, he forced John Calipari to play Cam’Ron Fletcher at some point, his first minutes in 2021. The depth was strained even more after Olivier Sarr failed for more than five minutes. left.
After the game, coach Cal said the three did not join the rest of the team for the trip, so Justus could coach the other two players, especially Clarke, who traveled with the team to all of their previous games.
“Joel stayed for that reason and I want to see the kid (Clarke) train tomorrow and Friday to see if there’s a chance he’ll play against Tennessee. He didn’t need to be here. In basketball, when you look at a guy, what, I needed a cheerleader? He didn’t need to be here. He needs to get ready to try to play that game on Saturday. If he can’t practice without limping on Thursday and Friday, he won’t play on Saturday and we’ll keep him out and see where this thing goes. Reaching a point where you’ve been out for five, six weeks means you’re just not capable. The game is too much to play at all. But that’s why I left him at home. ”
First of all, do we think that’s why they stayed home? And what exactly does the last part of his answer mean? If Clarke can’t play on Saturday, won’t he play? Calipari’s answer leaves the listener with more questions than answers.
UPDATE (22:04)
Shortly after pressing the “publish” button, John Calipari offered this to the listening audience of the UK Sports Network. Make it what you want it to be.
Calipari on the UK Radio Network postgame offers more about Terrence Clarke: If you’re limping after 5 weeks and the MRIs and scans don’t show anything wrong, you can’t play.
– Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) February 4, 2021
Full quote:
“After five weeks, are you still limping? And there’s nothing wrong, there’s no MRI – there’s nothing there. But players know their pain and what their pain threshold is, so if they limp, I won’t play it. ”