Cats Probably Won’t Have Adou Thiero Against Physical Mississippi State

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Could Kentucky use sophomore Adou Thiero’s physical play and relentless energy?

The obvious answer is yes. However, it sounds like he may miss another game Wednesday night when UK hosts Mississippi State.

Kentucky coach John Calipari said on his weekly radio show Monday night that Thiero was still “day-to-day” but acknowledged he did not practice again Monday.

Thiero has been out with “general soreness” in his back and Calipari said last week that Thiero “still has some testing to do” before he could return to the court.

Thiero has not played in a SEC game. His last action was Dec. 21 at Louisville when he played 13 minutes and had seven points and four rebounds. He took a fall in that game and UK has been extremely cautious about playing him until his back pain has gone away.

The Cats entertain Mississippi State, which upset visiting Tennessee last week, on Wednesday night and Calipari said the Bulldogs are even more physical than Texas A&M, which beat UK Saturday in overtime.

“They’re good! It’s just like I said about Texas A&M — they’re older, were up 15 or 16 and beat Tennessee. That game was really physical and they took it to Tennessee’s big guys. (Tolu) Smith just went right at him, had 25 points and 12 rebounds, whatever it was,” Calipari said on his radio show Monday.

“They’re good. They play a little bit of a 2-2-1 press, man-to-man they’re very aggressive. They pressure, they’ll stretch out, they collapse like a lot of teams in our league, which gives you corner 3’s and some different 3’s because of how they play.”