Kentucky basketball makes changes to starting lineup in final game before SEC play
Change is afoot for the Kentucky men’s basketball team.
Head coach John Calipari has switched up the Wildcats’ starting lineup for his team’s final pre-SEC game of the 2022-23 season.
Kentucky’s starting five against Florida A&M on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena will feature Sahvir Wheeler, Cason Wallace, Chris Livingston, Lance Ware and Oscar Tshiebwe.
This marks the first time this season the Cats will use this starting group, and the first time that Ware and Tshiebwe will start a game together.
Calipari hinted at the change during his weekly radio show on Monday night.
“Hopefully you’ll see a smoothness to us playing,” Calipari said of the impact from these expected changes.
The change to UK’s starting group comes just a few days after the team lost 63-53 to UCLA last weekend in the CBS Sports Classic in New York City. This represented the lowest scoring output for the Wildcats since March 2019.
Prior to Wednesday, Kentucky had used the quintet of Sahvir Wheeler, Cason Wallace, Antonio Reeves, Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe for five straight games. UK was 4-1 in that stretch.
Reeves and Toppin are the players that were dropped from the UK starting lineup on Wednesday night.
Game-by-game Kentucky starting lineups
Here’s a look at the starting lineups that UK has used for all 11 games so far in the 2022-23 season.
The Cats have now used five different starting combinations.
Howard: Cason Wallace, CJ Fredrick, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin, Lance Ware.
Duquesne: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Ware.
Michigan State: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Ware.
South Carolina State: Sahvir Wheeler, Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, Ware.
Gonzaga: Wheeler, Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, Oscar Tshiebwe.
North Florida: Wheeler, Wallace, Antonio Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Bellarmine: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Michigan: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Yale: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
UCLA: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Florida A&M: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Ware, Tshiebwe.
Kentucky’s win-loss record by starting lineup
Here’s a look at Kentucky’s win-loss record this season by starting lineup.
Lineups are listed in order of total games played.
4-1: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
2-1: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Ware.
1-0: Wheeler, Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, Ware.
0-1: Wheeler, Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
