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John Calipari gives Wednesday practice update on Adou Thiero ahead of Sweet 16 game
By Andrew Olson
Published:
John Calipari knew what was going to be asked at Wednesday’s media opportunity ahead of the Sweet 16.
In his opening statement, the Arkansas head coach shared a practice update on Adou Thiero before taking any questions.
“Adou practiced yesterday. Leg was bothering him today, so I didn’t put him through anything,” Calipari said. “We’ll see tomorrow. If we had 8 to 10 minutes from him in case of foul trouble, it would help. But we’re fine.”
Thiero has been sidelined since Arkansas’ 92-85 win over Missouri on Feb. 22. This season, Thiero has appeared in 26 games, averaging 15.6 points per game over 28.3 minutes.
Calipari announced Thiero is available to play on Tuesday while appearing on The Pat McAfee Show. At that time, Calipari had said Thiero would be available for about 12 minutes, setting his max at 15 minutes of playing time. Based on Wednesday’s update, Thiero might not push 12 minutes of playing time against Texas Tech.
As Calipari noted on McAfee, Thiero being available gives Texas Tech more to prepare for on Thursday night. The Razorbacks are a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament, but it has been a while since they have had a full roster. The Hogs notably benefitted from the return of Boogie Fland, who helped the team in the opening weekend of March Madness action.
Arkansas and Texas Tech are set for 10:09 p.m. ET on Thursday. The Razorbacks are 5.5-point underdogs at BetMGM Sportsbook.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
