Wheeler ‘stirs the drink,’ but UK pondering point guard options with starter ‘day-to-day’
Kentucky will prepare to play Georgia on Saturday without point guard Sahvir Wheeler, John Calipari said on his radio show Monday night.
Wheeler sustained a neck injury early in Kentucky’s loss at LSU on Tuesday night, Calipari said.
“He’ll be day-to-day,” the UK coach said. “So, I’ve got to prepare as though he’s not going to play in that Georgia game in case he doesn’t.”
Wheeler “stirs the drink,” Calipari said.
Wheeler’s backup, TyTy Washington, was limited at LSU because of multiple muscle cramps, Calipari said. When asked if Washington would be able to play against Georgia, the UK coach said, “I hope so.”
Noting that Kellan Grady played point guard for Davidson as a freshman, Calipari mentioned him as possibly getting time at point guard.
There’s also Davion Mintz. “The good news is he’s been running the second unit (in practices) as a point guard for a month now,” Calipari said.
A caller brought up a worst-case scenario. What if Wheeler, Washington, Mintz and Grady were all sidelined at LSU, to whom would UK turn?
“The next guy would have been Jai Lucas,” Calipari said in reference to the assistant coach/recruiting coordinator on UK’s staff.
Wheeler was hurt with 16:07 left in the first half of Kentucky’s game at LSU on Tuesday. He ran into a screen set by LSU “big” Efton Reid.
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said Reid was not at fault. “Nothing wrong with that screen,” Bilas said. “The trouble was Oscar Tshiebwe didn’t call out the screen.”
In getting back on defense, Tshiebwe had moved farther down court. Wheeler appeared to not anticipate the screen and was not braced for contact.
“It was a legal screen by Efton . . . ,” LSU Coach Will Wade said after the game. “It was a totally legal screen. It was just an unfortunate play. Certainly, he’s a jet and he’s a great player.”
Without directly linking the 65-60 loss to Wheeler’s absence, Calipari and Kellan Grady spoke of the point guard’s importance to UK’s play.
“He’s the engine on this thing,” Calipari said after the game. “He gets us all moving.”
If looking to make the case for Wheeler’s importance, Grady’s performance against LSU could have served as Exhibit A.
Grady missed all seven of his shots in the first half. But he made his first four three-point shots in the second half, the fourth giving Kentucky its largest lead at 50-41 with 13:05 left.
Thereafter, Grady took only one shot: a long three to beat the shot clock. He did not take a shot in the final 11 minutes.
When asked if this could be linked to the absence of Wheeler and backup point guard TyTy Washington, who was hindered by muscle cramping in the second half, Calipari came to the defense of emergency point guard Davion Mintz.
“Davion did fine,” the UK coach said. “But he’s not a point guard. He’s more of a scorer.”
Wade acknowledged the impact of Wheeler’s absence.
“I think you saw the domino effect of that,” he said. “They had to play some other guys, and then TyTy Washington kind of wore down.”
Jacob Toppin mentioned Wheeler’s impact on both ends of the floor, quickening the pace of play on offense while being disruptive on defense.
Going into Wednesday’s play, Wheeler’s average of 7.3 assists ranked third in Division I. Two players were tied for first with averages of 7.9 assists.
As for defense, Wheeler’s 20 steals leads Kentucky. His 22 fouls are one behind Tshiebwe for the team lead.
Notre Dame cited playing off Wheeler and giving him outside shots as a key to its victory over Kentucky on Dec. 11. Wheeler missed all five shots he took in that game and was on the bench for the decisive final minutes.
Metaphorically speaking, Wheeler rebounded from that performance in Tshiebwe-like fashion. His 26 points, eight assists and four steals in UK’s victory over North Carolina seven days later led to him being named Player of the Week by the Southeastern Conference and NCAA March Madness.
The day before his team played Kentucky, Wade cited Wheeler, Tshiebwe and Grady as players to be reckoned with.
Wade said Wheeler was a player “we couldn’t guard last year at Georgia.”
In that game, Wheeler had the first triple-double in Georgia basketball history: 14 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds.
“Wheeler does what he does . . . ,” Wade said. “He gets downhill and drives that thing left. Sets the whole offense up (and) gets them going in transition.”
Kentucky’s seven fast-break points at LSU was one more than the season-low of six at Notre Dame and against Ohio. UK went into the LSU game averaging 15.1 fast-break points.
In retrospect, the LSU coach made an ironic statement on Monday in assessing the challenge Kentucky presented.
Said Wade: “The one thing they don’t get really enough credit for is they set really, really good screens.”
Next game
Georgia at No. 16 Kentucky
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
