By LARRY VAUGHT

If John Calipari is right, Kentucky sophomore point guard Ryan Harrow will be rejoining the UK basketball team this weekend.

He played briefly in UK’s season-opening win over Maryland when he was battling flu-like syptoms and got into early foul trouble. Calipari did not take him to Atlanta three days later when UK went to play Duke and he was not at Rupp Arena when UK beat Lafayette. He went home for “personal reasons” and missed games Wednesday and Friday also.

“I mean, we want Ryan back. Again, at the end of the day I think he’ll be back tomorrow.  I think he’ll be in practice on Sunday and Monday and we’ll get started,” said Calipari after Friday’s 104-75 win over Long Island-Brooklyn. “But the time away, he starts down the totem pole like last and he has to work his way back, then he has to work his way to time with Jarrod (Polson). Jarrod is playing well right now.

“He has to fight. He understands. He gets sick, loses the weight. The team doesn’t stop.”

Speculation has run rampant that the pressure of being UK’s point guard has overwhelmed Harrow. However, he also had an illness his senior year in high school when he lost 13 pounds and during the offseason his father was ill — one reason Harrow gave him his national championship ring.

“At the end of the day I would hope if it were your son, you would want me to deal with this the way I’m dealing with it.  If this were my son . . . ,” Calipari said. “Again, I’m going to coach him. If someone is better, he’s not playing. If he’s better, he’ll play in time.

“We need him back, need another guy, no question.  Like everything else, you have injuries, things that go on as a coach. This is who we are and I like my team.”