As COVID disrupts, Kentucky basketball remains nimble with ‘backups to our backups’
If there was a top 25 poll for teams that are dealing with the coronavirus the best, Jacob Toppin said it would not be necessary to scan down the list to find Kentucky’s position.
“We’re definitely the best team in the country when it comes to COVID protocols,” he said Tuesday. “Everyone is healthy.”
Being COVID-free has not kept Kentucky from having to deal with the virus and its variants. UK’s last two opponents were substitutes: North Carolina for Ohio State, Western Kentucky for Louisville. Another substitution comes Wednesday night when Kentucky begins Southeastern Conference play against visiting Missouri. The Tigers’ coach, Cuonzo Martin, announced Monday he had tested positive for COVID. He will not be at the game.
Whatever future scheduling adjustments are needed, Toppin noted UK Coach John Calipari’s confidence that games will be played . . . against some team.
“Coach always said, if a game is canceled, we’re going to have other games. We’re going to have backups to our backups.”
During his turn on Tuesday’s video conference, Calipari said that playing games was a top priority. If cancellations of league games created a gap of, say, seven or 10 days, Kentucky would want to play substitute opponents.
“It may mean us adding a home-and-home (series) for next year . . . ,” the UK coach said. “It may mean a neutral (site) game with Gonzaga in Chicago or Dallas or somewhere.”
Calipari said he remains in contact with other coaches to keep abreast of what-if contingencies.
Reviving Kentucky’s regular-season series with Indiana, which has been dormant since Christian Watford made the game-winning shot against UK in 2011-12, is a possibility, Calipari said.
He added that Indiana balked at playing in the CBS Sports Classic or in Indianapolis.
Planning for makeup games or substitute opponents may be made in a matter of hours, Calipari said before adding, “We’ve got to be nimble and flexible because we don’t know where this is going.”
TyTy Washington reaffirmed that all Kentucky players are fully vaccinated.
“I think about COVID a lot,” he said. “It just changed everything. It changed the entire world.”
As of Tuesday, Kentucky players had not returned to last season’s “normal” of staying confined in their rooms when not on the court, Toppin said. Before the video conference, he said he was with Bryce Hopkins.
Meanwhile, Missouri faces the adjustment of playing without its coach present. Calipari said he called Martin.
“From what he and I talked about, he’s going to be fine,” the UK coach said.
Assistant coach Cornell Mann, who will be the acting coach, tried to put adjusting on the fly in perspective.
“It’s basketball,” he said. “Things do happen.”
Mann noted that there had been no staff changes in Martin’s time as coach. So the assistants are familiar with what Martin wants and expects.
“I think we’re as prepared as anyone would be for this type of situation,” Mann said.
Mann also noted that he had been the assistant assigned to scout Kentucky. He credited point guard Sahvir Wheeler with being a key to Kentucky’s startling turnaround from a discouraging loss at Notre Dame to blowout victories over North Carolina and Western Kentucky.
“Earlier in the year, I felt he could make or break the team at times by trying to do too much,” Mann said. In recent games, Wheeler has “hit a bit of a stride where he accepted his role and found a balance (between scoring and passing).”
Losses to Illinois and Kansas by an average margin of 31 points contributed to Missouri’s 5-6 record against Division I teams.
Mann saw a common thread tying Kentucky to Illinois and Kansas.
“It’s similar,” he said. “The reason I say similar is all those teams have a really good ‘5-man.’
“And both those other teams shot the ball (well). We have to do a better job in this game guarding the three-point line.”
Kansas made 14 of 27 three-point shots in beating Missouri 102-65.
Mann referred to UK’s “5-man,” Oscar Tshiebwe as “as good as any ‘five-man’ in the country. Probably better than most ‘5-men.’”
SEC play begins — or doesn’t begin — Wednesday night.
However — and whoever — the schedule dictates, Kentucky players spoke confidently of the future.
“At the end of the day, we’re just going to be the last team standing,” Toppin said. “Because we’re taking precautions to protect us.”
Wednesday
Missouri at No. 18 Kentucky
What: Southeastern Conference opener
When: 7 p.m.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Missouri 6-6, Kentucky 9-2
Series: Kentucky leads 13-2
Last meeting: Missouri won 75-70 on Feb. 3, 2021, in Columbia, Mo.
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 2:49 PM.
