Jonas Aidoo was essentially written off for the year. A slow start out of the gates due to an undisclosed illness had the four-star freshman center behind, and once the season got rolling, it seemed unlikely that he would catch up.
And then Olivier Nkamhoua went down with an ankle injury — and Rick Barnes had no choice. Uros Plavsic, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and John Fulkerson couldn’t handle all of the minutes, and Barnes had just one option left to supplement with.
As it turns out, Aidoo has done more than supplement. He was a legitimate impact player against Kentucky, helping to shut down potential player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe on Tuesday night.