Kentucky misses Adou Thiero; Calipari says he is working out again

DrewFranklinKSR

Adou Thiero watched another Kentucky game from the bench on Saturday. Dressed in street clothes, Thiero looked on as his teammates, including Zvonimir Ivisic, beat Georgia in the fifth game of Southeastern Conference play, 105-96. The sophomore forward’s absence was his sixth straight game without participation. He was last spotted on the court playing 13 minutes in the win at Louisville four days before Christmas. Sunday will mark exactly one month since that game.

After Kentucky’s win, John Calipari had little to say about Thiero’s lingering “general soreness,” which Calipari has implied is an issue with back spasms. Some good news: Calipari told Tom Leach in his postgame radio interview that Thiero is working out again.

“He was in there working out, shooting,” Calipari explained. “His body looks as good as it’s ever looked. I watched him in a game last year. He was like a stick, and now you see him, now, he’s literally a man.”

Unfortunately, Thiero isn’t himself at the moment. “Any added weight that he had, he doesn’t have it right now,” Calipari added.

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Missing Adou

Earlier this week, assistant coach Orlando Antigua said of Thiero’s unavailability: “It’s been felt.”

Saturday night, two of Thiero’s teammates, DJ Wagner and Tre Mitchell, spoke about Thiero’s importance. Wagner, a freshman, told KSR, “We missed him a lot, just what he brings to the team, that toughness, even offensively, just how good of a player he is, and a teammate he is. But he’s still been there in spirit. He’s been a good teammate to all of us. He’s still supporting us and he’s helping us in practice and stuff like that.”

Mitchell can’t wait to add Thiero back to UK’s rotation, whenever that day comes. “We were talking about that on the bench actually,” Mitchell said. “It was just like, ‘Our depth is unbelievable.’

“Even when Adou comes back, it’s like, you don’t know what lineup you’re about to see out there. It just brings another aspect to what we do and, you know, Adou’s going to come in there, a bull in a china shop, gonna run somebody over, go get rebounds, he’s gonna demand the ball, and he brings a lot to the table too. I’m actually probably more excited than anybody to get him back.”