Who is available, and who isn’t, for Kentucky’s men’s basketball against No. 1 Kansas?
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Game day: No. 1 Kansas 89, No. 17 Kentucky 84
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Kansas at the United Center in Chicago.
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Kentucky is about to face its toughest test of the young 2023-24 men’s college basketball season.
The No. 17-ranked Wildcats will face No. 1 Kansas on Tuesday night in Chicago as part of the Champions Classic.
A major storyline entering the anticipated matchup is what players will be available to play for John Calipari’s team against the Jayhawks.
Sophomore Adou Thiero was held out of UK’s Friday night home win over Texas A&M-Commerce due to being in concussion protocol. And three of UK’s talented big men — Aaron Bradshaw, Zvonimir Ivisic and Ugonna Onyenso — have been missing throughout the preseason and early-season games.
Bradshaw and Onyenso are recovering from foot injuries, while Ivisic has been awaiting word from the NCAA on his eligibility.
Here’s what we know about all four players, and whether or not they will take the court for UK against Kansas.
Adou Thiero expected to play for Kentucky against Kansas
In Kentucky’s season-opening win against New Mexico State, Thiero checked himself out of the game with about 12 minutes to go after an on-court collision and fall.
He was then held out of UK’s Friday night win while in concussion protocol.
When speaking to reporters Monday afternoon ahead of the Kansas game, Calipari said Thiero “will be fine” and indicated the sophomore would be available to play against the Jayhawks.
Calipari confirmed on UK’s pregame radio show Tuesday night that Thiero would be available to play.
“No excuses, he should be fine,” Calipari said of Thiero, who went through pregame warm-ups like normal ahead of the Kansas game.
Thiero is in the UK starting lineup against the Jayhawks.
Kentucky big men still out for Kansas game
Also when speaking to reporters Monday, Calipari confirmed that both Bradshaw and Onyenso wouldn’t play against the Jayhawks.
After UK’s season-opening win over New Mexico State last week, Calipari said Bradshaw is ahead of Onyenso in the recovery process by two weeks.
“Now, what does that mean? I don’t know,” Calipari said after the Wildcats topped the Aggies. “But he is ahead of him. He is jumping and doing stuff. He’s probably still probably a week, two weeks away from trying to, you know, practice and be with us.”
Bradshaw and Onyenso have been on the court for UK in pregame settings this season, but neither player has gone through the pregame warm-up process with their teammates. Instead, their activities have been limited to walking around and casually putting up shots while not in uniform.
The NCAA is yet to rule on Ivisic’s eligibility, but the 7-foot-2 Croatian recently returned to practice with the Wildcats after an illness.
“They get information. They ask questions. They get answers. They ask questions. They get answers, from (Ivisic’s former team in Europe) and everybody. And that’s where it is right now,” Calipari said of the NCAA process with Ivisic.
“My hope is they have enough information to make a decision before the (Kansas) game.”
That, clearly, didn’t happen.
Calipari said Monday that Ivisic has only practiced about six or seven days since arriving at UK in October.
While Calipari left open the possibility of Ivisic playing against Kansas if he was to be ruled eligible, that’s now a moot point: Ivisic won’t play Tuesday night.
During that Monday press conference, Calipari also provided an update on how Ivisic continues to acclimate to Kentucky and college basketball in general.
“He’s a basketball player, but the roughness of the game and some of that stuff, he’ll be behind. Conditioning, he’ll be behind,” Calipari said. “From when he had food poisoning, he lost 12 pounds. Now, he’s back up to 238 (pounds).”
This story was originally published November 14, 2023 at 9:14 PM.
