Illness continues to take toll on Calipari’s Cats

Davion Mintz has missed three games and likely is the player John Calipari says has mononucleosis. (UK Athletics Photo)

Kentucky coach John Calipari is happy the Wildcats won’t be playing a game Friday night for the first time in nearly two months. Kentucky (6-1) opened the season with eight consecutive Friday night games and events that began with Big Blue Madness on Oct. 15. The Wildcats won’t play another game again until Tuesday when it hosts Southern in the inaugural Unity Series contest. Kentucky defeated Central Michigan 85-57 Tuesday night.

Calipari said he has one player with mono and another with strep throat but didn’t indicate which players were struggling with illnesses. However, veteran guard Davion Mintz has missed the three previous games because of an undisclosed illness.

“We are so beat up and sick, thank goodness we’re not playing,” Calipari said on Thursday. “I got the sniffles and I have a little, you know, nasal, chest. I worked out today, just trying to see if maybe that will make me feel better.”

Calipari canceled a recruiting trip on Thursday as a precautionary measure and added that he didn’t “want to get worn out and then maybe catch something more than I have.”

In an effort to combat the possible spread of the seasonal cold and its symptoms on campus, Calipari said the school is taking measures to help keep his squad and others healthy.

“We are sanitizing everything in the path of our team — the lodge, the bathrooms, the common areas, the balls, the weight room. And we’re sick,” the UK coach said.

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Gametracker: Southern at Kentucky, Tuesday, 7 p.m. TV/Radio: SEC Network, UK Radio Network.

Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at Keith.taylor@kentuckytodaycom and via twitter at keithtaylor21.