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LEXINGTON, Ky. – The speculation is understandable, if misplaced.

The sight of John Calipari instructing the Kentucky basketball players on the bench to leave the Bud Walton Arena court to go to the locker room before Saturday’s game was finished was certainly unusual.

As Kentucky assistants scrambled to pull the five players still in the game toward the locker room as soon as the final buzzer had sounded in the 75-73 loss, CBS broadcasters wondered aloud if Kentucky was avoiding the handshake line in reaction to the much-talked-about postgame fight between Michigan and Wisconsin earlier this monBut Kentucky has been skipping the handshake line for weeks now, a move made before Michigan coach Juwan Howard was suspended five games for hitting a Wisconsin assistant.

Calipari has also pulled as many of his players from the court as possible before a road loss ended in the past to avoid them being caught up in fans storming the court.

Calipari’s justification for skipping the handshake line has been COVID-19 concern, not possible altercations with the opposing team.

“I’m looking around the country, and many coaches are just doing what they do in the NBA, which I did,” Calipari said when asked why he did not shake hands with Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse after Kentucky’s Feb. 2 win over the Commodores. “I acknowledged him. But I got worried after the last game.th