Kentucky’s Wheeler patiently aiming high: ‘You can’t become an elite shooter overnight’
Questions about shooting prowess came up repeatedly during an interview with Sahvir Wheeler at the Players First Satellite ProCamp in Danville on Thursday.
Wheeler vouched for the shooting ability of CJ Fredrick, who made 46.6 percent of his three-point shots in two seasons for Iowa before transferring to Kentucky last year. Injury prevented him from playing.
“CJ is an elite, elite, elite, elite shooter,” Wheeler said.
A reporter playfully asked if Fredrick was an even better shooter than Wheeler.
“Yeah,” Wheeler said before adding, “not for much longer.”
Wheeler and reporters shared a laugh.
When asked what facets of his own game he hoped to improve this offseason, Wheeler said, “everything.”
He seemed mildly taken aback when asked if shooting was a target area for his personal improvement.
“Everybody works on shooting,” he said. “Why do you think shooting?”
Well, Wheeler’s shooting was a topic of conversation this past season, never more so than when UK lost at Notre Dame in early December. The Irish defense concentrated on preventing drives, thus conceding open mid-range and three-point shots. After missing all five of his shots (two from beyond the arc) Wheeler watched the final two minutes of a possession-by-possession finish to the game.
Wheeler said he definitely wants to improve his shooting. But he pointed out that his shooting for UK was better than his sophomore season for Georgia in terms of field-goal percentage (44.1 percent versus 39.9 percent), three-point accuracy (30.8 percent versus 22.5 percent) and from the free throw line (78 percent versus 73.8 percent).
“And I think I shot over 40 (percent) in league play,” he added. Wheeler made 10 of 25 three-point shots against Southeastern Conference opponents.
“So, obviously, some struggles at mid-season, but you can’t become an elite shooter overnight,” he said. “It takes work.”
Wheeler said he works solely on shooting twice a day. He wants to make 500 shots (some three-pointers, some mid-range) in the morning. Then he wants to make another 250 later in the day.
He noted that he shoots a variety of shots: pull-up jumpers, coming off screens, etc.
How much time does it take to make 500 shots?
“Not long,” he said. “Thirty minutes.”
Wheeler saying he is working to improve all facets of his game raised a question: Does that include assists?
Yes, he said. Wheeler’s 207 assists last season were the fourth most in a season by a Kentucky player. And his assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.3-to-1 (207 assists, 91 turnovers) was a career best. That ratio had already improved from 1.5-to-1 as a freshman to 1.7-to-1 as a sophomore.
“You can work on finding new ways to get your teammates easy looks (and) getting them easy baskets,” Wheeler said. “You can’t be complacent because we’re not getting paid millions (of dollars) yet to do this. I’m not the No. 1 player in the world, so I’m always finding ways to get better. And I’m enjoying the process of doing it as well.”
The Kentucky players returned to campus this week to begin preparing for next season. Wheeler spoke of already being encouraged about the possibilities for 2022-23.
“We’ve got some really good guys coming in,” he said. “We’ve got some guys back. Just super big opportunity for me to play for Kentucky again. . . .
“It feels like again it’s going to be a really good team (and) a special group. I’m looking to build on what we did last year for sure.”
When asked why he believed Kentucky will have an outstanding team next season, Wheeler smiled and said, “It’s always a good team here.” Then he laughed.
Wheeler, who grew up in Houston, spoke of expecting to be part of a cohesive backcourt with fellow Texan Cason Wallace, a top-10 prospect from Dallas.
“We all have similar playing styles,” Wheeler said of Texans. “As far as being aggressive, playing downhill and ultimately being unselfish.”
Upon arriving in Kentucky, Wallace was initially quiet and “to himself,” Wheeler said. “But as the day went on, I finally got him to open up and laugh a little bit.”
The result was “a great vibe,” Wheeler said.
