Tshiebwe, Wheeler serve as straight men in Calipari’s comedy act after rout of Mizzou
Kentucky’s 83-56 victory over Missouri on Wednesday served as comedic fodder for John Calipari. The butts of his jokes were the pillars of this season’s team.
The UK coach said he teased Sahvir Wheeler.
“I asked Sahvir, ‘What did you do over Christmas? Eat? Did you get in the gym at all?’” Calipari said. “He laughed.”
Calipari recalled Wheeler replying, “To be honest, I really didn’t go to the gym. I did eat.”
Wheeler’s 11 points and nine-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio against Missouri led to a telling kicker.
“I said, ‘Keep eating, kid,’” Calipari said.
Although coaches, including Calipari, have said that Wheeler must temper the urge to drive all the way to the basket because he’s only 5-foot-9, the point guard continued to do so effectively.
Calipari credited teamwork in drawing the opposition’s big man away from the basket first.
As for Tshiebwe, he posted his 10th double-double, which tied him for the lead among Division I players. He scored 13 points and grabbed 20 rebounds. It was the fourth game in which he has had 20 or more rebounds.
But Calipari teased him about making only two of 10 shots.
“We could have shot 50 percent” if Tshiebwe had made more shots, the UK coach said he told his big man.
To which, Tshiebwe acknowledged the point. UK made 43.1 percent of its shots. If Tshiebwe made seven of 10, UK would have made 50.8 percent.
“It wasn’t my game,” Tshiebwe acknowledged, according to Calipari.
“Well,” the UK coach said he added, “the next one better be your game.”
High Point
Kentucky faces former head coach Tubby Smith and High Point in Rupp Arena on Friday afternoon. UK will honor Smith before the game by retiring a jersey in his honor.
Going into play Wednesday, High Point was No. 285 in the NCAA NET rankings. That was a higher ranking than five previous UK opponents: Albany (300), North Florida (305), Mount St. Mary’s (314), Robert Morris (324) and Central Michigan (341).
Ken Pomeroy had High Point at No. 261 in his ratings. The worst rating for an SEC team was Georgia’s 186.
High Point lost 81-68 at Michigan State on Wednesday afternoon. That dropped the Panthers’ record to 6-7.
Neither team led by more than seven points in the game’s first 33 minutes. High Point was up 35-34 at halftime.
“Don’t think this is just another pushover game,” Calipari said. “No, it isn’t.”
Michigan State, which was playing without two starters, outrebounded High Point 38-25. High Point had three offensive rebounds in the game.
UK/GPA
UK announced that its athletics not only met but exceeded the goal of an overall 3.0 grade-point average for a 19th consecutive semester. The overall GPA for the fall semester was 3.214, UK said.
The women’s gymnastics team led the way with a 3.779 GPA. Among men’s teams, baseball had the highest GPA: 3.694.
Counting only scholarship players, men’s basketball (2.595) and football (2.553) were the only sports with an overall GPA less than 3.0.
UK announced that 395 of its athletes had a GPA of 3.0 or better. Of those, 107 had a GPA of 4.0.
Thanks, Tubby
Calipari described the UK-High Point game as a way to show former UK Coach Tubby Smith some appreciation.
“The biggest thing is I want he and his wife and the kids to understand that this place, these fans, this school, this state absolutely appreciates what he did while he coached here,” Calipari said.
Looking ahead
In January, Kentucky will play four games against teams ranked in this week’s top-25 poll conducted by The Associated Press. Three of those games are on the opponents’ courts.
That stretch will begin with a game at No. 16 LSU next Tuesday.
UK also plays No. 14 Tennessee on Jan. 15, then later plays at No. 11 Auburn on Jan. 22 and at No. 6 Kansas on Jan. 29.
February has four games against ranked teams: home and away against No. 19 Alabama, at Tennessee and home against LSU.
February also includes a game at Arkansas. Kentucky has a 3-3 record in its last six games in Bud Walton Arena.
Looking further ahead
On Wednesday, the gambling site SportsBetting.ag put the ninth-best odds on Kentucky winning the national championship.
It made Gonzaga the favorite. Duke was the second choice. Baylor, Purdue and Kansas finished out the five teams with the best odds of winning the title.
In women’s basketball, South Carolina was the favorite with UConn the second choice.
Louisville was tied for the sixth-best odds, while Kentucky was tied for the 19th-best odds.
Etc.
Mike Morgan and Jon Sundvold are scheduled to call Friday’s Kentucky-High Point game for the SEC Network.
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 12:16 AM.
