Did illness and injury lessen the benefit of Kentucky basketball's 'tune-up' games?
LEXINGTON – The Kentucky basketball fans who have chosen to let their season tickets sit empty during at least part of a seven-game homestand against low-major opponents are not the only people ready to see the Wildcats face a quality opponent again.
“Yes, of course,” junior forward Jacob Toppin said after Kentucky recorded its sixth consecutive win last week in an 85-57 drubbing of Central Michigan. “We’re playing against these teams that aren’t as good as the teams we’re going to be facing later on, but we’re definitely eager to play a really good team.”
Since its season-opening loss to Duke, which rose to No. 1 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll last week before losing at Ohio State, Kentucky has faced six teams with a combined 9-36 record against Division I opponents.
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Five of those six teams are ranked 284th or worse by KenPom.com. If you remove Ohio, ranked 105th nationally, from the equation, the other five opponents in the stretch are a combined 4-34 against Division I foes.
Following a 9-16 season where most of the November matchups against low-major teams that UK coach John Calipari likes to refer to as “tune-up games” were removed from the schedule due to the pandemic-forced delay to the season, it is no surprise that Kentucky’s Hall of Fame coach went easy on this team’s early schedule as he worked to gel a group of veteran transfers and highly touted freshmen. Injuries and illness have left Kentucky shorthanded for much of the stretch, but Calipari insists the homestand has accomplished its goal.
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“You start building confidence and togetherness,” Calipari said. “You make them pass the ball to each other. You make them make the easiest play. You talk to them about you’re playing against us, ourselves and our best. How good can we play? Forget about the opponent, how good can we play?”
The games have given Calipari plenty of opportunities to see if players further down the bench can be counted on to contribute when the quality of competition improves.
Junior guard C.J. Fredrick was lost for the season to a hamstring injury before the opener. Topping looked like Kentucky’s best defender against Duke then missed the next four games with a bruised shoulder. Sophomore forward Lance Ware tried to play through an ankle injury but after being limited to one minute against Robert Morris missed the next three games.
Super senior guard Davion Mintz has missed the last three games with an undisclosed illness. Junior forward Keion Brooks also missed a game due to illness.
More than a week between Kentucky’s last game against Central Michigan and Tuesday’s game against Southern, the final game of the homestand, should have given Calipari an opportunity to focus on areas for improvement in practice. Instead, he was limited to seven scholarship players at one point last week due to a variety of illnesses spreading through the program.
“We are so beat up and sick, thank goodness we’re not playing,” Calipari said. “I got the sniffles and I have a little, you know, nasal, chest. … We’ve had one with mono, one with strep throat. Probably can’t give all of it.”
The uncertain illness situation means the Southern game might be another opportunity for reserves like Dontaie Allen, Bryce Hopkins and Ware to try to earn more minutes. Even if Kentucky is back to full strength – at least a couple players were missing from pictures of the team’s trip to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati Sunday – the game is the last “tune-up” before a stretch of three straight against KenPom top-50 teams starting at Notre Dame Saturday.
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“This is about us playing against ourselves,” Calipari said. “The second thing is, we need another post-up guy or two. So, we got this week to find out, is there another action that we can use to get into something that can post? And it doesn’t have to be Oscar (Tshiebwe). Who’s another guy that we can post up? How about we need 3s? How can we do this?”
Southern, coached by former UK star Sean Woods, will be Kentucky’s fifth opponent ranked outside the top 300 nationally by KenPom, but the game at least brings off-court considerations.
The matchup is the first in UK’s annual “Unity Series” against SWAC schools designed to raise awareness of the missions of historically Black college and universities. The teams visited the Freedom Center together and will share a meal Monday night. Faculty from both universities will join for a virtual panel for all UK and SWAC students interested in careers in college and professional athletics.
Kentucky’s only remaining low-major opponent after Southern, High Point (Dec. 31), will feature the return of Tubby Smith to Rupp Arena. The ceremony where Smith has his jersey retired should attract fans, even if the actual game does not.
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That time for tune-up games is ending. Starting Saturday Kentucky will learn if the homestand accomplished its goal.
“We just go out there and do what we do as our team, buy into what coaches are telling us to do,” Washington said. “Going back on trusting our training and pregame stuff, the preparation. As long as we’re good in all those, then we’re going to be straight for the game. It really doesn’t matter who we’re playing.”
How to watch Kentucky basketball vs. Southern
Time: 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 7
TV channel: SEC Network
Radio: 840 AM
Streaming: WatchESPN
Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com; Follow him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball: Illness could leave UK short-handed for Southern
