Kentucky guards TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler won’t play against Alabama
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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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As expected, Kentucky guard TyTy Washington was out with an injury for the Wildcats’ home basketball game against Alabama on Saturday afternoon.
Fellow point guard Sahvir Wheeler was also sidelined for the game against the Crimson Tide.
UK Coach John Calipari announced shortly before the game that both players would be out. The Kentucky starting lineup for Saturday was Davion Mintz, Kellan Grady, Keion Brooks, Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe.
The Cats ended up defeating Alabama, 90-81, with those starters playing nearly all of the second half together. Daimion Collins came in for Tshiebwe for a total of 2 minutes and 1 second, and he was the only substitute after halftime.
Washington suffered what UK is calling a “lower left leg” injury following a collision with Florida’s Brandon McKissic in the second half of last week’s victory over the Gators, a setback that forced Washington to miss the final 12:50 of that game. Somewhat surprisingly, the UK freshman returned to the court against Tennessee on Tuesday night, but he clearly wasn’t playing at 100 percent. In that game, Washington fell to the floor on an attempted drive early in the first half, and he was unable to play in the final 19:15 of Kentucky’s 76-63 loss.
Afterward, Calipari said he regretted playing Washington against the Volunteers.
“If I had to do it over, I would not have played TyTy — I shouldn’t have played him,” Calipari said after the Tennessee game. “… I should have just gone with my gut.”
The Kentucky coach repeated those thoughts on his weekly radio show the following night.
“I want to win every game I coach, but the big picture here is March,” he said.
Wheeler appeared to be favoring an injured wrist toward the end of the Tennessee game. He’s averaging 9.6 points and 7.1 assists per game, leading the Southeastern Conference in the latter category.
Calipari has stressed that Kentucky needs to get healthy to have its best shot at a serious NCAA Tournament run next month, even if that means sitting one of its best players against some key opponents to close out the regular season.
“The first thing has to be about the players,” he said Friday. “If they need to sit, they need to sit. And I’ll figure it out. If they’re not capable of playing at 100 percent, then why would you do that? To win one more game? To improve your seeding? Well, it’s about them.”
Washington is averaging 12.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game this season, and he’s widely projected as a lottery pick in this year’s NBA Draft — making him the best pro prospect currently playing for the Wildcats. Earlier this season, he broke John Wall’s program record for assists in a single game with 17 in a victory over Georgia.
He’s been hampered by injuries over the past few weeks.
Washington suffered a left ankle injury early in Kentucky’s loss at Auburn on Jan. 22. He missed the following game before returning to the court a week later in UK’s victory at Kansas, though he scored a total of just nine points over 51 minutes in his first two games back from injury.
Before the latest setback, he had scored in double figures in three consecutive games, including victories over Alabama and South Carolina. He had 10 points, five rebounds and six assists at the time of his injury in the Florida game last weekend.
Calipari said again Friday that he should not have played Washington against Tennessee.
“My gut said don’t play him, because he didn’t seem right,” he said. “... These kids want to play so bad, so there are times, as a coach, you gotta make that decision — that’s in their best interest — for them. Sometimes you got to. And then it’s next man up. What if we get in the NCAA Tournament and there’s fouls called, or a kid turns an ankle, or something happens and he’s out? What, do you just say, ‘OK, it’s done.’
“It’s every kid’s responsibility to be ready for their opportunity.”
Other than Washington and Wheeler, the only Kentucky player with any considerable amount of time at the point guard position this season is Mintz. Calipari also said during that week that the possible absences of Washington and Wheeler could provide more opportunity for Dontaie Allen and Bryce Hopkins. Allen and Hopkins played two minutes each Saturday.
Kentucky’s schedule next week includes a Wednesday night home game against Louisiana State before a road trip to No. 25-ranked Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 12:38 PM.
