No longer a starter but not forgotten, Adou Thiero is a key Wildcat. ‘It’s about winning.’

Following Kentucky’s 87-83 victory over North Carolina on Saturday night, a question about Adou Thiero left a couple of his teammates momentarily breathless.

Rob Dillingham shook his head and grinned.

Tre Mitchell did the same. They both let out barely audible exhales.

“Man, yo, that dude,” Mitchell said, collecting his thoughts. “At the end of the game I hugged him, because he accepted whatever Cal said, and he came in there and made an immediate impact. I mean, he lifted us off the floor. The energy that he brought and the plays that he made, it’s second to none — just to be able to adjust to that switch-up he had, and then he still gave it his all every second he was out there.”

That switch-up was Thiero being switched out of UK’s starting lineup for the first time this season. In every game he had appeared in up until Saturday — he missed one completely while in concussion protocol — the sophomore who played sparingly as a freshman was in the Wildcats’ starting five. Of the UK players who had been on the court all season long, the 6-foot-8 guard was actually the team’s leading rebounder — with 51 total and a team-best 15 offensive boards in eight games — heading into the blue-blood clash with Carolina.

But the breakout of Aaron Bradshaw — a game-changing, versatile, 7-1 freshman — against Penn the previous weekend necessitated the switch. So, instead of starting, Thiero began the game on the Kentucky bench. He checked in for the first time with 14:24 left in the first half.

And he impacted the game immediately.

On UK’s first possession with Thiero on the court, he drove baseline around UNC’s Harrison Ingram, was met at the rim by Armando Bacot, and the 19-year-old hit the preseason All-American with an up-and-under move worthy of the highlight reel.

“Is he amazing around the rim,” blurted out veteran CBS announcer Bill Raftery, not a question, but a statement. “Goodness. He is something, gettin’ around that rim. Whew!”

Not long after that, Thiero took a pass near the corner and nailed an open 3-pointer to give Kentucky’s its first double-digit lead of the game.

“How ’bout Thiero, huh,” Raftery said.

One minute later, UNC super-scorer RJ Davis drove the lane, lifted up for a shot, and Thiero flew in from the side, swatting the ball with such vigor that it bounced off the court and about 12 feet into the air before falling back down toward the floor, Thiero leaping up to grab it and drawing a foul on the Tar Heels instead.

“How ’bout that?” Raftery exclaimed as CBS showed the replay heading into the commercial break.

Later in the first half, he rejected 6-10 forward Jalen Washington at the rim. Right before halftime, he chased down Davis in transition and blocked his shot off the backboard so hard that it actually bounced off Thiero’s head and right back off the glass a second time before falling into a UK teammate’s hands. And in the opening minutes of the second half, UNC guard Seth Trimble drove the right side of the lane, Thiero — stationed on the opposite block — recognized what was happening before Trimble even passed the 3-point line, slid over and swatted the ball out of bounds.

Dillingham walked over and embraced Thiero with one arm, patting him on the chest with the other. Thiero turned around, smiling from ear to ear. No hard feelings over getting shuffled to the bench. Thiero was having a blast.

Shortly after sitting down for his postgame press conference — and not knowing that his players had already praised Thiero’s play a couple of minutes earlier — John Calipari worked a shoutout for the sophomore into his response to an unrelated question.

“I thought Adou did some really good stuff today,” he said.

Adou Thiero’s new role

Calipari has been praising Thiero ever since he arrived on campus as a lightly recruited freshman last year. He declared that Thiero would have a “huge impact on college basketball” midway through last season, even when he wasn’t playing much. And the UK coach has shown confidence in him so far this season, too.

When Bradshaw debuted Dec. 2 against UNC Wilmington and then starred in game two a week later against Penn, everyone had to know that sacrifices would need to be made. A team that had been starting Mitchell — a 6-9 forward — at the 5 spot with four guards around him would be making some changes. Thiero ended up the odd man out of the pregame introductions.

UK assistant coach Bruiser Flint foreshadowed what was coming a couple of days earlier. The addition of Bradshaw and fellow 7-footer Ugonna Onyenso, who made his season debut Saturday against North Carolina, would mean fewer minutes to go around.

“You want to win, you sacrifice. That’s the bottom line,” Flint said. “Cal talks about that all the time. It’s about winning, when it’s all said and done. So you make the sacrifices. You might not play as much this game. You might not play as much that game. You might play more this game. But if it’s all about winning, nobody cares about that.”

Thiero knew what was coming, too. Only Dillingham and Mitchell were made available to reporters after Saturday’s game, but Thiero talked to the local media right around the time Bradshaw returned to practice earlier this month. He said getting the 7-1 freshman and Onyenso into the lineup would free up guys like him to do other things. With a 7-footer on the court, Mitchell, Thiero and others will have a smaller opponent on them, and they’ll be in better spots to rebound and play helpside defense. Playing time was not a concern as he spoke that day.

“We’re all a bunch of competitors,” Thiero said. “So I figure, when we go into games, we’re all going to do whatever we can to win. And it’s gonna be hard to compete with us.”

The victory over UNC showed exactly that. Kentucky simply had too many weapons for the No. 9-ranked Tar Heels, a benefit on Saturday and another sign that these Cats could be something special once March rolls around.

Calipari has noted that freshman Jordan Burks — a natural wing who ended up UK’s backup center by default with the 7-footers sidelined — has moved back to the 3 spot in practice now that Bradshaw and Onyenso are on the court. But Flint said Thursday that Thiero has stayed in the 4 position amid all the changes.

It might not be exactly where Thiero would like to play, but it might also be the best thing for the teenager at the moment. A point guard for much of his high school career, Thiero underwent a massive growth spurt — going from a little over 6 feet at the end of his junior season to 6-5 by the end of his senior year to his currently listed height of 6-8. (And he might still be growing.)

He’s retained many of those point guard traits, but he’s also clearly getting used to his body from both a skill and conditioning standpoint. He’s relearning how to move on the court and how to make certain basketball plays, especially shooting from long range.

Calipari coached his father, Almamy Thiero, at Memphis, where Adou’s dad counted Joey Dorsey and Jeremy Hunt among his teammates. Calipari said that duo visited him in his Atlanta hotel room the night before the UNC game. They’d been following the progress of their former teammate’s son.

“I can’t believe how much better he’s gotten,” Hunt told Calipari, according to the coach.

“Now, here’s the issue,” Calipari continued with a smile. “He wants to be the point guard. But his dad is 6-9 and built like him, probably bigger shoulders. So he’s probably still growing. I doubt if you’re going to be a point guard.”

Calipari said on his weekly radio show Monday night that he recently challenged Thiero to be even more active, especially as a help defender at the rim. The Wildcat took it to heart while coming off the bench against UNC. “He knows like, ‘I’m going to have to fight for more time,’” Calipari said. “And then all of a sudden, he’s putting his head on the rim.”

The UK coach said Saturday night that — with the way Thiero is playing right now — the primary thing he needs to improve on is his outside shot. He’s 2-for-8 on 3-pointers so far this season after going 3-for-9 as a freshman.

“You know how you do that?” Calipari asked. “You live in the gym. You can do that.”

He pointed out that perimeter shooting was a knock on Tyrese Maxey and Cason Wallace, too — they shot 29.2% and 34.6%, respectively, during their one year of college, and Wallace was 4-for-29 on 3-pointers over his final nine games of last season — but both are now lighting it up from long range. Maxey is top 10 in the NBA with 3.2 made 3s per game, and Wallace, who just turned 20 last month, is leading the entire league by shooting 52.0% from deep.

“You live in the gym, that can improve,” Calipari said of Thiero. “He’s going to make it.”

Thiero said earlier this season that he’s been working extensively with UK assistant John Welch to develop his 3-point shot and get comfortable with his delivery as he continues to adjust to his growing body, changes that have affected how he shoots over the past couple of years.

The results haven’t shown up yet. But he has plenty of time. Calipari has also said that Thiero could be “one of the best finishers” in college basketball if he keeps working at that part of his game. The upside was evident with his 16 points and 13 rebounds — both career highs — against No. 1-ranked Kansas last month.

His playing time totals with Bradshaw fully integrated into the lineup — 16 minutes vs. UNC and 15 minutes vs. Penn — have been season lows, but, at this stage in his development, perhaps that’s a good thing for Thiero, too. He’s at his best when he can be a ball of energy, whether that be attacking the basket, rebounding the ball or wreaking havoc on defense.

It was certainly a good thing for Kentucky over the weekend. Calipari now has some bigs to go with everything else, but Thiero will continue to be a weapon for these Wildcats.

“I just think he’s so talented,” the UK coach said. “He’s got a quick twitch, getting in better shape. ... I told his dad, he hasn’t even touched how good he could be. So, really proud of him.”

Next game

No. 9 Kentucky at Louisville

When: 6 p.m. Thursday

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Kentucky 8-2, Louisville 5-6

Series: Kentucky leads 38-17

Last meeting: Kentucky won 86-63 on Dec. 31, 2022, in Lexington

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