Starting Five Leads Cats Past Great Danes on Monday

Kentucky head coach John Calipari has said many times that he likes to have his rotation include about seven or eight players. Calipari believes that formula is one that has been most effective for his teams through the years.

Calipari got his wish on Monday night, although it was not in the manner which he had hoped. Calipari’s Wildcats beat Albany 86-61 inside Rupp Arena on Monday with a rotation of just eight players.

However, the reasons UK had just eight scholarship players were injuries and sickness. Kentucky is already without CJ Fredrick, who is out for the season after having surgery. Forwards Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware continue to nurse injuries and were out of action on this night. And guard Davion Mintz was not available on Monday due to illness.

That left the Cats with the regular starting five of Keion Brooks Jr., Kellan Grady, Oscar Tshiebwe, TyTy Washington Jr. and Sahvir Wheeler. Off the bench, UK had Dontaie Allen, Daimion Collins and Bryce Hopkins available.

Luckily for the Cats, the starting five came through on this night. All five starters scored in double figures, led by Washington’s 20 points, followed by 17 points and eight rebounds from Brooks. Wheeler had 15 points and seven assists, Grady had 14 points and Tshiebwe had 12 points and 14 rebounds.

If you’re scoring at home, that’s 78 points by the UK starters. The short bench mustered just eight points on this night.

Calipari is fine with having a short bench, with one major exception.

“If someone doesn’t play well, you don’t have an option,” Calipari said after the game. “They’re not computers and they’re not robots.”

Ideally, the rotation would not be this short at this point in the season. Calipari would rather be tinkering with lineup options at this point in the season instead of wondering what the team looks like with certain players in the game.

“We’ve got to get healthy. We’ve got to get guys back. We still don’t know what we are,” Calipari said. “What happens when Lance comes back? What happens when Jacob comes back? Do we become different? How do we play? What are we trying to do?

Another factor that came into play on Monday was Tshiebwe being saddled with foul trouble. Calipari was asked how his team looked without him and it wasn’t a thought that the UK head man wanted to consider.

“I’d rather not see what we can do without him,” Calipari said. “When he’s on the court, we’re better. We’ve got to get him better around the goal.”

Despite the short bench, Calipari likes what he sees from his team. He hopes that the various parts can come together and benefit the whole very soon.

“Look, I like this team, and this team has a chance. And I’ve got to do my job and hold them accountable,” Calipari said. “I don’t care about the clutter. People can say what they want. I’ve got a job to do, and I’ve got to get this team right because we have some pieces that can do this.”

The pieces that were available on Monday night led the Cats to a fourth straight win. Calipari hopes to have more pieces available in time for North Florida on Friday.