Kentucky basketball's John Calipari soon will have a problem — a good one — on his hands

LEXINGTON — John Calipari doesn't know exactly when it will happen. But in the next week or two, barring any setbacks, Calipari, in his 15th season as Kentucky's coach, expects to have a full complement of players available.

The problem — a good one, but a problem nonetheless — then becomes divvying up playing time. An ongoing storyline since the beginning of the season is that the Wildcats never have been at full strength. Now 22 games into the 2023-24 campaign, UK hasn't had a contest in which every scholarship player has been able to go, whether sidelined by injury, illness or eligibility questions.

Two UK players sat out Tuesday night's win at Vanderbilt with injuries: senior forward Tre Mitchell (back) and freshman guard D.J. Wagner (ankle). Their absence created an opportunity for two of the Wildcats' lesser-used players to deliver: big man Zvonimir Ivišić and 6-foot-8, 202-pound freshman Jordan Burks. Ivišić almost averaged a point a minute in the Wildcats' 109-77 win over the Commodores, scoring 11 points in 12 minutes. He grabbed five rebounds and had a pair of assists before fouling out. Burks was even better, going 6 for 6 from the field (making his only 3-pointer) for 13 points and collecting five rebounds in 15 minutes.

Tuesday marked the first game this season Mitchell didn't play, having started UK's previous 21 contests. Wagner has treaded that same path: He's started all 18 games he's appeared in this season. It's likely both will be back in the starting five as soon as their injuries heal.

Aside from the aforementioned quartet of Burks, Ivišić, Mitchell and Wagner, that leaves seven other Wildcats fighting for playing time: guards Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards, Antonio Reeves, Reed Sheppard and Adou Thiero along with forwards Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso.

Per KenPom.com, UK's most frequently used lineup the past five outings consisted of Dillingham, Reeves and Sheppard in the backcourt and Mitchell and Onyenso in the frontcourt. That's the same group that was on the floor the final 10:25 of regulation against Florida last week at Rupp Arena — a game the hosts went on to lose, 94-91, in overtime.

For all the weapons at Calipari's disposal, especially offensively (Kentucky averages 89.7 points per game, the second-best mark in Division I), he said that won't be the deciding factor as he tries to figure out how to partition playing time with Selection Sunday barely a month away.

"I really don’t care who you are and how many baskets you score, because we’re not winning trying to just outscore people. We proved that the two games before," said Calipari, referring to the home setbacks to Florida and Tennessee. "Georgia the first half, why isn’t that us? (Players say), 'Because, well I choose not to be that.' (I say), 'OK, then you’re going to choose to sit on the bench.'"

While not tracked as an official stat, Calipari saw one improvement defensively in Tuesday's 32-point victory.

"You saw them dive on the floor," he said. "I subbed Antonio in the first half because he didn’t dive. … You (don't) dive on the floor, you come out. So then they were diving — and I think two of them were fake dives — but … even a fake dive is good. If we start diving on the floor, that’s one piece.

"Then if we figure out defensively the easiest way for these guys to really lock in and guard? " Calipari added, not finishing his thought.

To identify the players most willing to buy in to putting forth more effort defensively, Calipari said future practices will be structured accordingly. Every time they take the practice floor, he said, 70% of the allotted time will be defense oriented.

"We have a lot of playmakers. (But) will we get better defensively?" he said. "Will we continue to dive on the floor? Will we take pride in our defense? We worked, but we’re going to keep working on 3-point defense."

After Tuesday's dominant road win, Edwards and Reeves acknowledged the importance of making progress defensively.

Good thing: Their minutes in the days, weeks and month to come possibly depend on it.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball: John Calipari needs to figure out playing time