LOOK: Kentucky kneels for national anthem at Florida

Kentucky vs. Florida is underway in Gainesville, and what you didn’t see on the broadcast was the entire Kentucky Basketball team, including John Calipari and staff, kneeling during the national anthem:

Together as one pic.twitter.com/4cWrZw8z74

— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 9, 2021

Entire Kentucky team takes a knee during anthem. #blm pic.twitter.com/VuC7yR8P28

— Chris Harry (@GatorsChris) January 9, 2021

So far this season, the team has stayed in the locker room at Rupp during the national anthem and I don’t recall seeing pictures of them kneeling at other arenas, but the timing is notable. In the wake of the riot at the Capitol, several NBA and college basketball teams have knelt during the anthem this week. On Friday, assistant coach Jai Lucas was asked if Calipari addressed the team regarding the riot and had this to say:

“The biggest thing, Coach has done a good job of just letting the guys express their feelings and how they feel and what’s going through their mind and things like that. That’s something, you know, he gives them the ability to do. He always says that it’s a players-first program and he really does run it that way. He did a good job of listening to them and their concerns and their thoughts. That’s the biggest thing, just having these open conversations to let them kind of express themselves. I think we give them a safe place to do that.”