By Josh Ellis

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Before the regular season started, UK head coach John Calipari said he didn’t know if he’d play a six, seven or eight-man rotation.

He seems to have found his answer (for now, anyways).

Through the Cats’ first two regular season games, Calipari played a 10-man rotation and an eight-man rotation.

The season opener against the University of Albany was the first time Calipari got to see his team in action, and he got a special surprise off the bench from junior forward Derek Willis.

The Mt. Washington, Ky., native had a career high 14 points, to go along with five rebounds and two assists. Willis averaged just 3.9 minutes per game last season, but played 28 in the season-opener on Friday.

Despite his best performance since being at UK, Willis emphasized it’s not about minutes, it’s about winning.

“It’s not about minutes for me. It’s about winning the game,” Willis said. “If I need to not play, that’s fine. If I need to play 13 minutes, I’ll play 13 minutes. Whoever needs to play 30-to-40 minutes, that’s fine. I don’t care about minutes or anything like that.”

Of the 10 who played on Friday against Albany, eight of them had at least 11 or more minutes on the floor. Another interesting thought is none of the 10 came in during garbage time, because UK’s turnover struggles kept the Great Danes within 10 for most of the game.

Barring Isaiah Briscoe’s injury, the Cats first starting lineup was Ulis, Jamal Murray, Charles Matthews, Marcus Lee and Skal Labissiere.

In the Cats’ second game against NJIT, Calipari kept the same starting lineup, except for one change – Willis instead of Matthews. Calipari said Willis is continuing his campaign for more playing time, and is solidifying himself in the rotation.

“Derek is really helping us. You’re talking about a 6’9, 6’10 athlete that’s long, can block, can guard, can shoot,” Calipari said. “It looks as though Derek moved into that seventh spot with Alex and (Matthews).”

The upside of playing a deeper rotation allows Calipari to adjust his lineup to whoever’s playing well on a particular night.

Labissiere, for instance, was held scoreless in the first half of the Albany game and finished the game with nine points, five rebounds and four blocks in 30 minutes of play. Against NJIT, Labissiere was hitting on all cylinders. He finished with 26 points, five rebounds and two blocks in 21 minutes of play.

“Coach Calipari told me they were going to go to me early in the game. I just have to put myself in the right position, catch the ball and score,” Labissiere said. “I get to play against Isaac and Marcus everyday, so that helped a lot.”

On the other hand, Murray had an off night on Saturday. The freshman guard finished with just eight points on 3-of-13 shooting in 30 minutes of play – and UK still won by 30. In the opener, he had a team-high 19 points and eight assists in 32 minutes of play.

“Jamal, great game for Jamal. You got to go 1-10 (from 3-point range). Go 1-10, we still won,” Calipari said. “You do something to make a basket so if you get a three, you just don’t keep going 1-10. And he learned.”

Calipari will need all of his players’ best effort on Tuesday when the team travels to Chicago to face No. 5 Duke. If one key player has an off game for the Cats, the team may not be as fortunate as it has been the first two games.

“We’re going to learn about our team. That’s why you play these kind of games and we know how good Duke is, how good their players are, how good their coach is, how well organized (they are),” Calipari said. “Now we got to go to Chicago and now the bright lights are on. And let’s see what we are.”