Isaiah Jackson and Kentucky won't play again until Saturday when UK hosts Florida. (SEC Photo)
Kentucky is coming off its best win of the season at Tennessee and has won three straight games, something it has done only one other time during this 8-13 season. The Cats seem to be “peaking” in this unusual season and certainly did not need a postponement like they got Tuesday with Texas A&M. There had been some speculation UK might try to add a game this week before it hosts Florida Saturday but coach John Calipari told Tom Leach on his weekly radio show Monday night that he had decided against that.
“I’m comfortable with where my team is but no game this week. We’re not playing Tuesday. We needed to play Tuesday. I didn’t want to add another game and just shove a game in there,” Calipari said.
“I want those two games — Texas A&M and South Carolina — to be that last week. So after we play (next) Tuesday (at Ole Miss) , let’s try to shove those two games in there. And now, giving our guys some time to really work on themselves and start up again on Wednesday to get ready for Florida.”
Kentucky’s SEC-opening game against South Carolina was postponed for COVID reasons just like the Texas A&M game was. The SEC has not indicated how it will handle make-up games because South Carolin and Texas A&M have both missed multiple games. There’s no indications which leagues will be made up before the SEC Tournament — or if any will be made up.
Calipari had said earlier he would consider adding non-conference games next week before the SEC Tournament if the league games are not made up.
“I don’t know. Will we get both games, one game?” Calipari said. “At that point, now maybe we see if we want to add something going into the tournament, I don’t know. But the league will let us know because you’ve got some teams with five, six, seven, eight games to make up.”
COVID protocols forced the cancellation of the UK-Texas game Jan. 30. Calipari took time on his radio show to praise UK’s athletics department and the overall university for keeping athletes safe.
“How long have we gone as a program with everything being negative including staff? It’s been incredible. We’ve got an advantage with the lodge and the practice facility and how we’re located but taking care of these kids and keeping them safe was the No. 1 thing we did,” Calipari said.
“Now, did it take away from our team building? Yeah, you’re in a room by yourself, you can’t come together, you’re six feet apart, you wave, you never touch anybody. It affected our team building but we don’t have a choice.”
