John Calipari gives illness update: "We are so beat up and sick"

Kentucky doesn’t play another basketball game until December 7. By then, hopefully, they’ll be healthy. John Calipari gave reporters an update on his team’s status a few minutes ago and said the illnesses swirling around the Wildcat Coal Lodge include mono (!), strep throat, flu, and the sniffles.

“We are so beat up and sick thank goodness we’re not playing,” Calipari said. “We’ve had one with mono, one with strep throat. Probably can’t give all of them but we’ve had guys — today’s practice will probably have seven players there and like two managers.”

Davion Mintz has missed three straight games. Keion Brooks sat out the North Florida game but returned in limited minutes vs. Central Michigan. On Tuesday night, Calipari said Daimion Collins was ill. Three managers and Brad Calipari are also sick. Calipari himself has a cold, which is taking him off the recruiting trail.

“I’ve got the sniffles, a little nasal, chest [congestion],” Cal said. “I was supposed to go — and you guys and ladies know, I travel. If I need to go see a kid, I go. I canceled today for the first time in as long as I can remember. Only because I don’t want to get worn out and then maybe catch something more than I have. Now, I would never think that way. I would go sick, I would go coughing. I would just go but I think all that we’re going through, you start approaching things a little differently.”

In an effort to mitigate the spread, Calipari said his staff is once again wiping down everything.

“We are sanitizing everything in the path of our team. The lodge, the bathrooms, the common areas, the balls, the weight room. We’re sick.”

Get well soon, Cats.