LEXINGTON, Ky. — Back in the summer, when John Calipari hypothesized over what coaching challenges he would face with the 2022-23 Kentucky Wildcats, one the UK head man surely never considered would be his needing to justify keeping Oscar Tshiebwe on the court.
Yet after Tshiebwe had a second-straight subpar offensive game and struggled mightily in defending against the high pick-and-roll for about the 803rd time this season during UK’s dispiriting 88-73 home loss to Arkansas on Tuesday night, Calipari found himself being questioned over why he played the reigning men’s college basketball national player of the year over lightly used sophomore reserve Daimion Collins.
“You know, you as a coach, you go with what got you there, and I wanted to — it was a bigger picture for Oscar than just this game,” Calipari said. “It was like, ‘Let’s get him going just to get him right.’ ”
