The Kentucky Wildcats are about to enter the toughest part of their non-conference schedule with games against North Carolina, UCLA, and Louisville, and they’ll have to do it without the services of Alex Poythress. The junior forward is out for the rest of the year with a torn ACL. UK Coach John Calipari says the loss of Poythress will hurt.
“I told the guys, I’ve done this a long time, and when you have someone who can do things that other players cannot do – Anthony Davis, a Derrick Rose that’s just so fast and could do things – well, Alex was a beast. He made blocks that normal players, like, ‘Where did that come from?’ Or a rebound or a dunk. I don’t know if it was Wisconsin (2014 Elite Eight), somebody threw him a bad pass and he still dunked it. Things that people can’t do, he could do. And they all came at great times. I can remember last year (against) Louisville, in a three-minute span it was ridiculous. So now we’re different. You don’t have that guy you can play poorly and he will go do something to get you back in the game.”
During a media opportunity on Friday Calipari said he was confident that the injury wouldn't irreparably affect Poythress's career ambitions to play in the NBA.
"I can remember having to sit down with Nerlens in the same way to tell him, ‘You’re fine. You’re insured if something goes crazy. You have plenty of time if you choose to train and be ready to put your name in the draft, or you come back for another year and you will have your masters. You’re going to graduate in May.’ So I said ‘this hurts our team, but you’re fine."
Calipari says he doesn’t know how his team will respond to the loss of Poythress.
"I mean, this is all part of it things happen that you have to deal with and you have to respond to. Next man up and all of that – and it’s all great coach speak – but the reality of it is the fear and the anxiety and all of the other stuff that Alex has and we have for him. You know, it just zaps you. It zapped me," Calipari said.
The Wildcats host North Carolina Saturday at Rupp, the following Saturday they go to Chicago to take on the UCLA Bruins, then exactly a week after that, they invade the Yum Center to take on arch-rival Louisville two days after Christmas.
