Kentucky will not face a new opponent this week to replace the team’s postponed matchup against the Texas A&M Aggies.
During his radio show with phone calls Monday night, UK head coach John Calipari said the team will have the week off before taking on the Florida Gators on Saturday afternoon.
“There is no game this week,” he said. “I didn’t want to add another game, put another game in there.”
Originally scheduled for Tuesday, February 23 at 7 p.m. ET, the Wildcats’ home matchup against the Aggies was officially postponed on Saturday night due to a combination of positive tests, contact tracing, and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the Texas A&M men’s basketball program.
This is the second league game to be postponed, as the UK’s home game against South Carolina, originally scheduled for December 29, was also postponed. The team also had previous matchups against Detroit Mercy and Texas canceled.
Following Kentucky’s win at Tennessee on Saturday afternoon, Calipari said Britain would likely play three SEC games in the final week of the season rather than add a new game this week.
“Yes (we could add new games), but the challenge these kids just went through, I’m not sure we won’t take a couple of days to catch our breath,” Calipari said. “Then try to play A&M and South Carolina last week, where we got three games. Play in Mississippi, then two home games before our conference tournament. That is what I would like to do. These kids need a break, come on. They have been through a glove. “
Prior to the Texas A&M postponement, Calipari said any year-end scheduling changes or additions depended on the SEC’s plan to use the last week of the season to reschedule previously postponed games. If the league needed the UK to reschedule conference games for seeded purposes, obviously that would be the priority. If the SEC didn’t, Calipari said it was looking to add “a couple of games” to the schedule, adding that several senior sports directors from middleweight programs had already approached Kentucky to ask to play.
So what games are the most important that make up for the seeding? Whatever it is, if we’re not one of them and we have a week, yeah, I would try to schedule a couple of games, ”he said. “I’ve had a couple of athletic directors friends of mine who are in the middle of the majors and they’ve said, ‘Hey, if you want to play with us, let us know.’ So that’s a possibility.”
Instead, it appears the UK will end the year with the two confirmed games against Florida on Saturday and at Ole Miss on March 2, followed by two recovery games against Texas A&M and South Carolina to close out the regular season.