Lessons were learned from play that injured UK’s Wheeler. Is a rule change necessary?
Kentucky Coach John Calipari did not sound optimistic Friday about Sahvir Wheeler playing in Saturday’s game against Georgia.
“I don’t think he’ll practice today,” Calipari said. “His neck is still bothering him. So, it’ll be day-to-day.
“I know he wants to play against Georgia.”
Calipari did seem to suggest that Wheeler’s backup at point guard, freshman TyTy Washington, would play against Georgia. Muscle cramps limited Washington’s playing time at LSU on Tuesday.
“It’s a good challenge for TyTy, different things he’ll have to face,” the UK coach said of Saturday’s game. “He hasn’t faced them this year.”
Wheeler, who has the third-best assist average (7.3 per game) among Division I players, sustained a neck injury when he ran blindly into a pick set behind him by LSU “big” Efton Reid early in Kentucky’s loss at LSU.
Calipari called for a rule change to prohibit or better control such blind-side screens. He likened it to two previous rule changes that resulted from non-calls that worked against Kentucky: Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes making a shot after the shot clock expired in the 2015 Final Four (the play could not be review because it did not happen in the final two minutes of the game) and the winning tip-in by LSU’s Kavell Bigby-Williams in the final seconds of a game on Feb. 12, 2019 (only defensive goal-tending could be reviewed).
“How about we look at this one?” Calipari said. “Here’s another Kentucky rule that needs to be changed.”
Calipari likened such a screen to a blind-side block in football. Those can result in a penalty. If a screen like the one Reid set on Wheeler remains legal, the rules should allow the player setting the screen to put up his hands in order to soften the contact.
Ken Koester, the coordinator of officials for the Division III Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference, did not agree. In an email, he wrote that permitting the screener to raise his hands “would be incredibly difficult from an officiating perspective to determine someone that is ‘pushing’ vs ‘merely softening the blow.’”
Koester, who also works for the National Association of Sports Officials, said Calipari’s idea about softening the blow merited attention. “But it’s a play that’s been allowed in the game for as long as any of us in this organization can remember,” he added, “so it seems tough to believe they would litigate out of the game.”
NCAA Rule 4-35 sets the guidelines for screens.
The screener must give a “stationary opponent” a “normal step” to avoid the screen.
If the player being screened is moving, as Wheeler was, the screener must give the opponent “room to change direction or stop.”
But there’s no set distance or time required to help the player avoid the screen.
“The interpretation of the illegal screen rule often comes down to a judgment call by the officials,” the NCAA rule book reads. “Since the opposing player’s speed determines how close the screener may legally position himself.”
J.D. Collins, the NCAA’s national coordinator of men’s basketball officiating, said in an email that “a screen set from behind (outside of the opponent’s view) must be set stationary and give the opponent a step to stop or change direction.”
After the game, LSU Coach Will Wade defended his player who set the screen.
“It was a legal screen by Efton,” he said after the game. “He gave him a step. It was a totally legal screen. It was just an unfortunate play.”
Calipari agreed, saying, “I don’t think the guy did anything dirty.”
As he defended in transition, Wheeler seemed unaware of Reid’s presence.
Koester said that was a factor to consider.
“If he’s coming up the floor and he’s not looking at it, but he would have had time to stop, then the onus is not on the screener,” said Koester, who also works for the National Association of Sports Officials. “It’s really on his teammates for not calling out the screen or someone making him aware of it.”
Analyst Jay Bilas, who worked ESPN’s telecast of the game, said on air that Oscar Tshiebwe, who was guarding Reid, should have alerted Wheeler of the screen.
On Friday, Tshiebwe said he tried.
“I take responsibility,” he said. “I screamed. That gym was crazy (and) loud. I was behind screaming, screaming. He could not hear me.”
Tshiebwe said he has been told since to get closer when alerting a teammate of a future screen.
Koester suggested a teammate (Jacob Toppin was about as close to the screen as Tshiebwe) would have been wise to alert Wheeler.
“These little guards come up the court, they’re running quickly and so focused on the ball or pressure,” Koester said. “And out of nowhere, it’s boom.
“That doesn’t necessarily make it illegal.”
Saturday
Georgia at No. 16 Kentucky
When: 6 p.m.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 11-3 (1-1 SEC), Georgia 5-9 (0-1)
Series: Kentucky leads 129-27.
Last meeting: Georgia won 63-62 on Jan. 20, 2021, at Athens, Ga.
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 2:25 PM.
