Even John Calipari does not know if Terrence Clarke will play in tough game at Missouri

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Terrence Clarke has not been flying through the air in any SEC game and likely will not play again tonight at MIssouri. (SEC Photo)

Will freshman Terrence Clarke make his SEC debut tonight when Kentucky plays at Missouri? Who knows? Apparently, Kentucky coach John Calipari does not.

“With Terrence, we’re going by the doctors and what they’re telling us,” Calipari said Tuesday.

Clarke hurt his ankle in mid-December and played 14 minutes against Louisville on Dec. 26th without scoring. He has not played since.

Kentucky is also coming off a COVID pause that forced the cancellation of last Saturday’s game with Texas.

How many players will Kentucky have against Missouri since it is coming off COVID protocols?

“At this point, I don’t know. But I think it will be most of the guys,” Calipari said. “I don’t think it will be five guys or six guys. I think we’ll have most of them. But as we speak right now, there is nothing COVID related.”

That was the second time he said if UK did not have a full roster it would not be “because of COVID” against Missouri.

The UK coach is more worried about the team he’s playing than who he will have playing for him.

“We’ve got a tough, tough game at Missouri. Hard. They’re physical. They guard. They got a big man that’s a moose. Their guard play is good. It’s even better,” Calipari said.

“They’ve got all these guys back from last year’s team that we struggled with. So, it’s going to be a hard, hard game.

“But, it’s like the Texas game. When I had to tell them on Friday that this is what’s happened and we’re not going to play Texas, dudes were mad. And one of them immediately said, ‘Coach, can you reschedule that game?’ And then they all chimed in, ‘Yeah, Coach, reschedule it, Coach.’ These kids want to play, and they want to play good teams.”

Calipari has a different want.

“I just want us to play better in winning time, last four minutes. We’ve just got to play better then, and that means playing to win, playing to be the dagger, playing to make the rebound or the play or the stop or the block that ends the game,” Calipari said.

“Not, ‘Ugh, we may not win.’ You can’t play not to lose. Play to win.”

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