Calipari confirms Toppin's injury; says injured Wildcats must practice to start

There was some confusion regarding Jacob Toppin‘s health after Kentucky Basketball‘s sudden exit from the SEC Tournament in Friday’s quarterfinal. Before the game and at the postgame press conference, John Calipari noted that Toppin was on the list of players who missed practices in the week leading up to the trip to Nashville.

“Jacob didn’t practice but one day,” Calipari said after the Wildcats suffered a second loss to Vanderbilt. “Cason (Wallace) practiced one day last week. I wasn’t even sure they were going to play. I thought we were going to end up having to do what we did at Arkansas, just figure out how to get it up the court. That’s what I thought we were going to do. All of a sudden we can go, but they did not practice. Neither did CJ (Fredrick).”

But when Toppin spoke after the loss, KSR asked him about the ailment that kept him from practicing, to which Toppin replied, “I don’t have an injury.”

The two statements made minutes apart did not add up.

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— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) March 11, 2023

It turns out Toppin was injured and missed practices. His Friday night comment was meant to keep the injury from any blame, as Calipari teaches his players to do in defeat.

Calipari cleared things up when he opened his Sunday evening interview by clarifying Toppin’s status, telling reporters at Kentucky’s Selection Sunday watch party that it was a hamstring injury keeping Toppin from full participation leading up to the SEC Tournament.

He said, “Last week, we had four guys not practice Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, including Jacob, who had a hamstring, so they did not practice, the four of those guys.“

“And someone said Jacob said he wasn’t hurt. Well, Jacob knows not to make an excuse when someone beats us. He knows we give them all the credit. We don’t take away from their win and we weren’t going to and that’s why he said what he said.”

Don’t practice, don’t start

As Kentucky prepares for Providence and the NCAA Tournament, anyone dealing with an injury must practice to keep their usual roles in Friday night’s game. Calipari will not do what he did before the SEC Tournament and keep guys from competing in practices before a must-win game.

Calipari said, “This week, I told them, you will either practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or you will not start and you will come off the bench if you’re a starter. And if you’re on the bench, you’re going to be deeper on the bench. When you’re just doing scripting and not competing, it takes an edge away. We have to compete before we go in. So those are just some things.

“They gotta practice,” he added. “That’s what happened last time, they practiced on Thursday. We weren’t the same. So, you gotta be here practicing, or you’re coming off the bench, and you’re not gonna play as much, unless you get in there and we need you, and you play well? Okay, we’ll leave you in.”

The latest on Sahvir Wheeler

There is one exception to Calipari’s practice-all-three-days rule. He noted Sahvir Wheeler will get some dispensation because Wheeler’s injury is the most significant of the four.

Calipari said, “I just told him, if it gets rough and you want to step off, I’m OK with you because he wouldn’t, in all likelihood, be starting anyway. But he practiced a little bit, but wasn’t live up in Nashville.”

When asked if he has any hesitation in playing Wheeler, Calipari replied, “That’s why he’s gonna practice for three days and he’s got to show us that he’s what he needs to be. And I said there’s nothing that would make me happier than him to impact the game.”

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