Jerry Tipton on UK basketball

During a SEC teleconference on Thursday, Kentucky Coach Billy Gillispie noted again that his team had adjusted to playing without injured guards Jodie Meeks and Derrick Jasper.

“We’ve developed a mindset that no matter what happens, we’re going to compete,” he said.

That came a day after Gillispie noted on his weekly radio show that the team had learned to better handle the absences of Meeks and Jasper.

“At one point, they were probably thinking those guys will be back to bail us out,” the UK coach said. “Not they have figured (Meeks and Jasper) may not be back or, if so, on a limited basis, and ‘I’ll make it happen.’ ”

On both occasions, Gillispie said he had nothing new to report on the condition of Meeks and Jasper. “We go day to day,” he said.

Meeks  has played in only six of UK’s first 15 games. He sustained a stress fracture in the pelvis, then strained a hip flexor. He missed the Southeastern Conference games against Vanderbilt and Mississippi State because he aggravated the hip flexor injury.

Jasper underwent microfracture knee surgery on June 16. That delayed his season’s debut until Dec. 29. He strained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee against Vanderbilt and sat out the Mississippi State game.