John Calipari unsure if DJ Wagner, Justin Edwards will play vs. Tennessee

Kentucky’s overtime loss to Florida is maddening, especially when you glance up and see what’s ahead. No. 5 Tennessee comes to town on Saturday. Although the Vols are also coming off a loss, on Tuesday night to South Carolina, they have one of the most experienced teams in the country led by one of the most dynamic players, Dalton Knecht, and a coach, Rick Barnes, with a very good record against Kentucky. That’s daunting enough in itself, but especially when you consider the Cats might be shorthanded again.

Just before tipoff, word broke that neither DJ Wagner nor Justin Edwards would play vs. Florida, Wagner battling a lingering ankle issue and Edwards working back from a leg injury suffered last week. After tonight’s loss, John Calipari said he didn’t know if Wagner or Edwards would be available on Saturday vs. Tennessee. Kentucky is 0-2 without Wagner in the lineup, both losses to unranked teams in Rupp Arena.

“I don’t know if we’ll have a full roster but you know, we’ve got no choice,” Calipari told reporters. “[Tennessee is] coming in. They’re really good. They’re really veteran. They’ve got a couple of really good guys that can just break it down and score. Rick does a great job.”

Calipari shared a few more details with Tom Leach during his postgame radio segment, also mentioning Adou Thiero, who went to the locker room holding his back but later returned to the game. Thiero missed seven games with back issues before returning Saturday at Arkansas.

“I don’t know right now,” Cal said when Leach about Wagner and Edwards. “I’m hoping. They’re both working to get back. We’ll have to see what was up with [Adou] but, you know, we’re not the only team that has players hurt. And we have enough but we’ve got to get a rotation going with who we have.”

“They were exhausted”

Without Wagner or Edwards, five Kentucky players played 33 or more minutes, with Reed Sheppard playing all 45. By the end of the second half, it was clear most of the Cats on the floor were exhausted, which Calipari said led to defensive breakdowns and miscues, most notably Reed Sheppard leaving Walter Clayton to hit a three to tie the game at the end of regulation.

“He did good,” Cal said of Reed. “We just — there were some breakdowns, like, ‘Why did you do that??’ kind of breakdowns and I’m owning it up to, they were exhausted. Like the last three. ‘Why did you leave that guy?’ We were guarding the three-point line and he stopped in the lane and you left your man. Why did you do that? Well, he’s probably exhausted.

“But we didn’t, you know — who are you going to take out and who are you going to put in? Robert even went back in with cramps.”

Aaron Bradshaw only played two minutes in the second half and not at all in overtime. In retrospect, Calipari said he regrets not subbing Bradshaw in for Tre Mitchell, but he didn’t want to mess with a career performance by Ugonna Onyenso.

“Probably should have had Aaron in for Tre a bunch more than I did because, you know, but Ugo was playing so well. That’s why I did what I did. But, it’s kind of like we got tired out but we didn’t — there was not a whole lot of subs. It was like, here’s who we have.”

A few minutes later, Calipari said the same thing to Tom Leach, which means we may see an Aaron Bradshaw, Ugonna Onyenso frontcourt vs. Tennessee.

“Now, I’ll be honest, I’d probably, if I had to do it over again, would have played Aaron more with Ugo. I’d played Aaron with Ugo and let those two go some,” Cal said. “Now, when you look back, I would say Aaron should have had at least 10 or 12 of [Mitchell’s] minutes and [Mitchell] should have played less.”

Calipari’s got a few days to figure a new rotation out and a few days for Wagner and Edwards to get healthy. Fingers crossed.

“I haven’t lost any faith in this team. I believe in the team. We’ve just got to get healthy and have a full roster. You can’t, in these wars like this, you’re going to play a 45-minute game, 45 minutes, and some of the guys played 45 minutes.”

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