Kentucky’s latest win a lesson in team basketball. Sahvir Wheeler was a big part of it.
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Game day: Kentucky 69, Vanderbilt 53
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Vanderbilt at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tenn.
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Not long after Kentucky completed perhaps its most convincing team performance to this point in the basketball season, CJ Fredrick cut off a reporter’s question. He had more to say on the topic at hand.
The previous question had been directed at Sahvir Wheeler, who had been the odd man out of UK’s three-game winning streak going into Tuesday night and the target of criticism amid the Wildcats’ success. Wheeler — after working his way back into a meaningful role in Kentucky’s 69-53 win over Vanderbilt — had delivered a candidly unselfish answer when asked how he kept his focus amid basically being benched for the team’s most promising run of the season.
“That’s part of it,” Wheeler said. “Those guys who’ve been playing these past couple of games are guys who’ve been winning games. That’s the group who went down to Tennessee and popped Tennessee. So, at the end of the day, we’re at Kentucky, and I’m playing with some really good players. … You gotta learn to live with that and learn to grow from it and be mature about it. Because those guys deserve to play as much as anybody else. Those guys were fighting in practice, working their tails off, paying attention to detail. And they deserve that.
“They got us three wins in a row, and today it was just my turn — my opportunity — to kind of give us some energy. And I did that. But you gotta give all the credit to these guys, because they’re the ones who were in there when I wasn’t available. … And now we’re looking pretty good.”
When the UK point guard was finished talking, the guy sitting next to him and wearing the same blue jersey didn’t want to let the subject drop. Not just yet.
“I’d like to comment on that real quick,” Fredrick said before launching into a full-on defense of his teammate.
“Sahvir was great tonight,” he continued. “And he comes in every single day with a leadership mentality. And he’s been ready to go. And he was ready tonight. And he’s going to continue to do that. He’s our guy. We have tremendous faith in Sahvir. And that’s just the kind of guy he is. Every day, he brings it. He’s been great in practice. Today, he was the reason we got up so big. He was that ignite that we needed today.”
Two weeks ago, Kentucky basketball was in a much different headspace. The Cats had just lost to South Carolina in Rupp Arena, one of their most shocking defeats in recent memory. The entire season seemed on the brink of collapse. A team expected to contend for a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament appeared on its way to missing March Madness completely.
And then an equally stunning win at No. 5 Tennessee. And then two more wins — over Georgia and Texas A&M — back home in Rupp. And during those three games, Wheeler — the team’s starting point guard and the Southeastern Conference assists leader going on three seasons — played a total of exactly 90 seconds of second-half basketball. As the Cats won those games, Wheeler sat and watched. And the reaction was expected: this was a better basketball team with Wheeler — already a polarizing player — on the bench. Right?
Wrong, those who actually play the game alongside him kept saying. Jacob Toppin made similar declarations in Wheeler’s defense before the Texas A&M game. UK Coach John Calipari alluded to it in his comments after the game. He came close to explicitly calling out Wheeler’s detractors then but stopped just short. He said Tuesday night that it was difficult to hold back.
“It was hard. It was really hard. Because I wanted to do some stuff,” Calipari said. “… I love our fans. The fans that are really into basketball? I love our fans. Now, social media, you got trolls. You got people from other programs. Or, they’re just not basketball fans. Or they’re not fans of mine. And they go crazy. That doesn’t bother me.”
It does bother him when “they” go after one of his players. Clearly, the same goes for Fredrick and Toppin. And the other Cats who have rallied around Wheeler through this rough patch.
This bunch didn’t click immediately — UK started the season ranked No. 4 nationally before falling out of the Associated Press Top 25 altogether — but things seem to be falling into place now.
That South Carolina game was the bottom. “Crisis brings about change,” Calipari said.
Wheeler called the Tennessee game the “catalyst of change” in a positive direction. In the days between those two games, the Cats had their now-famous players-only meeting. And things have been clicking ever since, with Tuesday’s win at Vandy the best sign yet that this Kentucky team might finally be on the right track.
There were no terrible starts or halftime deficits. Kentucky went into the break in Nashville up nine points and had effectively put the Commodores away by the first TV timeout of the second half. And it was a total team effort.
Antonio Reeves led Kentucky with 16 points, but five Cats scored in double figures. Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe had double-doubles. Fredrick and Wheeler had five assists each. UK made 56.4 percent of its shots, moving the ball around to get open looks, then actually hitting them.
“You make open shots, we’re gonna be pretty good,” Calipari said.
And Wheeler, after suffering through all the negativity hurled his way, got to have his moment.
Calipari said he’d spent the past two days telling his team to rush the ball up the floor on offense. They started the game by walking it up. The coach put in Wheeler, and he did what he does like no other player on this roster: fly down the court.
“And the game changed the minute he walked in,” Calipari said. “And then Cason (Wallace) got to see it, and he did it. Now all of a sudden, the ball’s whipping around.”
Wheeler’s stat line was modest: four points, five assists, two turnovers in 22 minutes. But it’s another step toward this team finding out what works best. And that’s going to take a collective effort.
“Everyone’s starting to figure out what they do. And they’re starring in their role,” Fredrick said. “We’re not trying to do things that we can’t do. And we’re starting to realize that each and every single one of us brings something different to the game, and we’re all coming together in that aspect. And playing off each other. And just having a lot of fun with each other.”
Calipari kissed Wheeler after the game.
“I got sweat all over my face. I had to get a towel,” he said.
The Hall of Fame coach who turns 64 years old next month told the senior point guard who turned 22 years old on the day he barely got to play against Georgia that he wanted to cry.
“I know what he’s been through. You don’t,” Calipari said. “Some people out there that threw stuff at this kid — you don’t know what it does. And I always come back to this: If it were your son, how would you want him to be treated?”
Calipari said “there was a lot of garbage” on social media and elsewhere. Wheeler told him he didn’t read it, but the coach knew he had. Calipari said he hoped his point guard had learned to stay away from it moving forward.
“And he also learned how that team in there loves him,” he said, pointing toward the UK locker room. “And how his coach is both feet in — until the wheels fall off — for him. Now, you may have to come off the bench. But so what? Doesn’t mean I don’t love you, I’m not for you, I won’t be there for the rest of your life, as long as I’m living. But someone’s playing better, so they gotta be in. That’s team. Then you accept it and say, ‘I’m ready. What’s my role? I’m gonna do this.’”
Next game
No. 9 Kansas at Kentucky
What: SEC/Big 12 Challenge
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 14-6 (5-3 SEC), Kansas 16-4 (5-3 Big 12)
Series: Kentucky leads 24-10
Last meeting: Kentucky won 80-62 on Jan. 29, 2022, in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge at Lawrence, Kan.
This story was originally published January 25, 2023 at 12:44 AM.
