‘That was big.’ Kentucky rallies and wins without Wheeler and Washington.
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Game day: No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 25 Alabama
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Alabama in Rupp Arena.
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Irony alert: With the prospect of playing No. 25 Alabama without the team’s primary ball handlers and decision-makers, Kentucky Coach John Calipari leaned on Nick Saban for inspiration.
Calipari showed the UK players a video of the Alabama coach speaking to his team about being prepared when adversity creates opportunity.
“It was an incredible message,” Jacob Toppin said. “A very candid message.
“He essentially said when guys go down, you can either put in the work as if you’re going to be playing a lot — when opportunity comes, you rise to the occasion. Or you revert to moping and the woe-is-me approach.”
Toppin acknowledged that Saban was, uh, animated in delivering this message. “I’m paraphrasing,” the UK player said with a smile.
Kentucky breathed life into that message in defeating Alabama 90-81 on Saturday in Rupp Arena.
Kentucky won despite playing without Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington, two players who had accounted for 58.1 percent of the team’s assists in Southeastern Conference play.
Both were sidelined by injuries, Calipari said before adding, “they may be out another couple games. I need them healthy before March. We don’t need them to play hurt. If we can’t win a game because they’re not there, then we don’t win the game.”
By defeating Alabama, Kentucky showed — again — it can carry on when players are sidelined. For Wheeler, it was the second time he could not play this season. It was the third time for Washington. Five other UK players have missed games. That’s not counting CJ Fredrick, who will not play after undergoing surgery in the offseason.
Yet, Kentucky committed only seven turnovers in beating Alabama. UK improved to 22-5 overall and 11-3 in the SEC, the latter moving the Cats within a game of first place with Auburn’s loss at Florida.
In the absence of Wheeler and Washington, Kellan Grady scored a season-high 25 points and became the fifth UK player to score that many points in a game this season.
Even for Grady, a player in his fifth college season and a scorer of more than 2,000 career points, this victory was special given the circumstances.
“In my experience in college, this is probably one of the most rewarding wins I’ve ever been part of,” he said.
Toppin suggested Kentucky proved something beyond winning a basketball game.
“It just shows how good a team we are,” he said. “And how we can just step up in a big moment and perform. …
“That was big, not just for anyone to see that, but it’s big for us to know we have players to play when people are injured or out.”
It wasn’t easy.
Grady said UK had about 36 hours to come up with a plan. Or as Calipari phrased the challenge: “How the hell are we going to play?”
The game’s beginning was not encouraging. Alabama matched the three three-pointers made when the teams played two weekends earlier before the first television timeout and hit nine before halftime en route to 14 threes for the game.
Presumably to prevent panic, Calipari said he told the UK players, “You think they’re going to make 30 today? Just play.”
Toppin suggested Alabama’s hot start, which enabled the Tide to lead by as much as 13 in the first half, was no cause for alarm.
“This is Kentucky basketball,” he said. “People come to our arena. We go to people’s arenas. And the first five minutes everyone’s hitting every shot because they’re excited to play Kentucky. … Cal always emphasizes staying the course.”
What wasn’t routine was having to rush a Plan B with Wheeler and Washington sidelined. Without the two point guards, Kentucky’s transition offense was practically non-existent with only eight fast-break points.
Fortunately, UK had practiced with Davion Mintz and Grady logging point guard minutes, Calipari said.
The UK coach said he called more timeouts than usual in order to rest players. As it was, Grady and Toppin played 39-plus minutes while Mintz played 38-plus and Keion Brooks logged 37-plus.
“It just shows how much effort and how much will we put in to win the game,” Toppin said. “It says a lot about how bad we want to win games.”
Kentucky saw this display of overcoming adversity as a good sign for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
“It shows how good of a team we are,” Grady said. “And that we’re well-equipped to handle adversity and rise to the challenge.
“The country knows what we are at full strength.”
The victory over Alabama showed Kentucky’s resilience,” Grady said before adding, “That’s a good team.”
Next game
LSU at No. 4 Kentucky
When: 9 p.m. Wednesday
TV: ESPN
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 5:27 PM.
