Adou Thiero set the tone for intensity against Auburn

Physicality has not exactly been Kentucky’s strongest attribute this season. As talented and athletic as this roster is, an Eastern Kentucky grandma would sit them all down and force-feed everyone extra helpings of chicken and dumplings in order to put some meat on them bones.

The notable exception to this is Adou Theiro. In addition to inexplicably growing two inches, Theiro added over 20 pounds of bulk to his frame from last season, and the results are paying dividends.

Coming into the year, most critics wondered how Thiero might fit into the rotation, but he has played in a way that Calipari has no choice but to maximize his minutes on the floor. Against Auburn, he showed just how valuable his tenacity, strength, and willingness to initiate contact are to this team.

Kentucky lost a few games via bully ball, and it was clear they were not going to let Auburn mimic that avenue for success.

On defense, Thiero set the tone. Reed Sheppard was the only player who saw more than four minutes of action to have a better defensive rating than Thiero, and that was only because Sheppard had five steals on the night.

Despite not having an official steal or block on the stat sheet, Thiero accounted for eight stops against the Tigers, and his stop percentage was a staggering 74.6 percent. These numbers were second only to, once again, Reed Sheppard, whose high steal rate skews the analytics just a bit.

Thiero got after it on offense too

The defensive assertiveness translated to the offensive side of the court as well. It is unlikely the game plan called for Thiero to have the third most shot attempts on the team, but that is exactly how it played out.

On several occasions with the half-court offense sputtering, Thiero made a strong drive to the rim where he either finished or opened up something for a teammate. If Cal could just get him to not hold square so long on his layups, he’d be even better. Adou had four made field goals, three of which were dunks and the other was a strong and-one.

Thiero scored some of his points simply by hustling, including a big-time hammer off a chaotic sequence to thwart a would-be Auburn run early in the second half.

Another big time @Adou_Thiero 🔨!! pic.twitter.com/pL2VREoeMp

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 18, 2024

Thiero also knocked down all six of his free throw attempts, a skillset someone with his kind of knack for physical contact requires. At the end of the day, Thiero finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, each good for second most on the team.

What to do when Thiero is on the bench

All that hustle ain’t easy. Thiero asked to come out of the game for a short spell in the second half to catch a breather and in his place, Calipari inserted Justin Edwards. In the first half, Jordan Burks served as Adou’s backup, but Edwards got the nod to play the four in the second half.

It worked.

Granted, three minutes is an extremely small sample size and it ended with Edwards picking up his fifth and final foul, but during that stretch of a three-guard lineup plus Edwards at the four, Kentucky outscored Auburn by seven.

Again, it could be a coincidence and Edwards was not directly responsible for any points scored during that stretch, but the lineup fans have been clamoring for all season got some run, and the plus-minus gods smiled upon it favorably.

More than any type of objective analytical stat can show, Thiero set the bar for the team when it came to intensity. The eye test tells you that. His aggressiveness is contagious and when the entire team is playing with an Adou-level of focus and drive, they are difficult to beat.