Calipari insists sickness wasnt' a factor in loss to No. 11 UCLA
John Calipari isn't going to use illness as a crutch following his team's 97-92 loss to No. 11 UCLA on Saturday.
Kentucky forward Derek Willis told Joe Mussatto of SEC Country that he didn't sleep the previous night due to an illness, and that several other teammates were also suffering from various ailments. Calipari confirmed Friday that some of his team was sick, and that each player was given hand sanitizer.
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"Not to make excuses, but we had some people not feeling well," Willis said. "With not having a shootaround, I feel like we just got a slow start and we kind of didn't match their energy."
Calipari made it clear, however, that he wasn't looking for excuses after a poor performance.
"No, no, no," Calipari said. "Had nothing to do with anything. The factor in the game is they played better than us and they played harder than us. They had more fight than we did. They made some shots when we missed some shots."
Kentucky has the next three days off to get well before taking on Valparaiso on Wednesday.